Anyone have any experience with Paulownia trees. I've ordered some to try in my yard.
Here's some info on them.
They grow up to 12 feet a year. Have outstanding flowering characteristics.
(http://www.fateucalypts.com.au/images/PAULOWNIA%202.jpg)
(http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/cristina_1020274237_579.jpg)
They are an attractive tree from what I have seen and read about them. However, I have also read that they might not stand up to strong winds or ice and that they can have surface and/or shallow root systems, perhaps similar to some species of Maples. If you don't plant them near a sidewalk and have a flower bed around them their shallow roots won't be an issue.
Interesting they regenerate from the root system once cut.
Likes light and deep rooted. From the description given we should ask all industrial areas to start planting these.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia
Paulownia is extremely fast growing; some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the"Phoenix tree."
Paulownia has the ability to reclaim ecologically stressed and degenerate patches of land relatively quickly. Its root systems run deep and penetrate compacted and contaminated soils which have resulted from industrialized development. Paulownia is a phyto-remediator, increasing the organic content of degraded soils, processing and filtering contaminants through the uptake of its vascular system, and emitting oxygen into the atmosphere.
Damned double post
Yea my first reaction is any tree that grows that fast cant be that strong and will probably fall apart first ice or snowstorm or heavy wind, (aka bradford pears).