Paulownia in BloomPaulownia in Bloom

HOW IT STARTED

I started my fascination with paulownias when I first saw one at Howard Davis Park, Jersey in the 80’s and was amazed at the leaf size. Since then I have collected all ten varieties that I can find listed in the UK.

Having been in my current property for 20 years my oldest paulownia is 19 years old, the majority of the rest are 10 plus. I was amazed to find that paulownias seem to thrive 200 metres up on a hill in the south Cotswolds north of Bath where the soil is thin, above Cotswold Brash and very much on the limey side of neutral. I was surprised to find there is little difference in the leaves between the varieties of paulownia, I have tried to describe the leaves under each variety. However, growth rate, early and late leafing, early and late flowering, all vary considerably.

There are photographs taken of one variety, p.tormentosa Fast Blue, which were taken the first few days of April 2017. Indeed to my amazement the first flowers appeared at the end of March. The norm for flowering of p.tormentosa is May. The latest leafing variety, Paulonia X taiwaniana holds its leaves perhaps a month later than the rest. I have not been able to find another Paulonia X taiwaniana to compare however.

Most of my Paulownias look as if they will flower this year which will enable me to describe the blooms more accurately. The catalpifolia was the best variety by far for blooming after severe frosts a few years ago and may well prove the most florishous of all the varieties, with the possible exception of Fast Blue. The ten varieties I have are: p.tomentosa; p.fargesii; p.kawakamii; p.tomentosa 'Lilacina'; p.catalpifolia; p.fortunei; p.fortunei Fast Blue; p.elongata; p.taiwaniana; p.coreana; p.tormentosa 'Carwineii'*

I now hold 'The National Collection of Paulownias' as awarded by Plant Heritage

*My unofficial name for a Paulownia tree at Carwinion in Cornwall which had much narrower leaves than the type. I have managed to obtain root cuttings to see if the narrow leaves come true to the original tree.

Typical Paulownia (Catalpifolia) leaf with hand for scaleTypical Paulownia (Catalpifolia) leaf with hand for scale