Royal empress (Royal Paulownia) seeds, uk??

 


I am really desperate for some garden privacy, and a fence just isn't
enough!
After studying online i come up with the royal empress tree, it appears
to grow
fast, but is ative to the U.S.
Does anyoe kow if this tree will grow well in the UK? Has anyone grown
or had
any experience with this tree?
I have bought some seeds online and have them ready to sow asap, and am
hoping
for some success.....
I have read may forums etc about this tree, but all the posts are from
the U.S
and as i am in lancashire, england, it doesnt seem to apply.

My garden is approx 52ft long x 25ft wide ad is 99% empty except for
lawn and
dug empty border.

any advice or help would be great, i do really want to fill my garden
with at
least small plants this year in the hope that the next few years
i will see alot
of change and growth.
I am a reasonably ok gardener, just not tree educated.

thankyou in advance
alison




--
alison1971

 

alison1971.5daa2f6@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

I am assuming its Paulownia tomentosum, which is indeed a fast growing
tree and easily makes 6' in its first year from seed. However it makes a
poor screen as its deciduous (with very large leaves) and sparsly
branched so in winter there is hardly anything there. In summer it is
rather handsome but can get quite large allthough it responds well to
pollarding.
As a tree it seems hardy enough but unfortunately the flower buds form in
the Autumn and sit on the tree over winter, these are vunerable to frost
so the lovely lilac blue foxglove like flowers are not allways produced
(takes about 5 years from seed to first flowers)

Surface sow your seed (which is tiny and very unpromising to look at) it
germinates very easily
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

 



 The OP is in Lancashire
and I doubt she would ever see the flowers.  The furthest north (UK)
I've ever  seen one in flower was London.
  
    Janet

 


If my memory serves me correctly, it flowers at Powis Castle (NT) and
Ness Botanic Gardens.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley

 



I have a Paulownia tree here which is about 15 years old, but it really
doesn't like a cold winter. It is about 10 feet high but in a hard winter it
dies as much as it grows each summer. Still, the tree survives (and is
probably waiting for global warming), but you might well have more success
in Lancashire. It certainly grows fast, reaching a height of 10 feet in
around 5 years.

Phil
Northern Highlands of Scotland