Trees in parks and gardens 2010

[Stephenb]

Perhaps I can add a little explanation. The tradition of tuntre is a very special one here in Norway (also elsewhere in Scandinavia?). It is a dominant tree originally planted near to the farm house and there is supposed to be a grave underneath!  The grave belonged to the so-called Haugbonden who was the first farmer to clear the forest for the farm. For anyone wanting to read more, it's on p.15 of the following document (select the text and put into Google Translate might work):

http://www.umb.no/statisk/ilp/landskapsverdi.pdf

I particularly like the mention of the tradition of pouring beer, milk or mead on the tree's roots at Xmas for the Haugbonden - I think I'll reintroduce this tradition at Xmas (as I have a "tree hugger" visiting and have some awful homebrew..). No idea who's buried under my tuntre! However, there are scattered ancient burial mounds on the hill where I live!

Edit: On second thoughts maybe I shouldn't use that homebrew - the Haugbonden is supposed to protect the current farmer from evil...

If you planted one of these giants in a typical British garden it would certainly become a nuisance!

[Hoy]

Stephen, I couldn't have explained it better myself

[johnw]

My friend Jack who is the propagator at the Arnold Arboretum emailed me this morning and has jogged my memory.  No wonder I had forgotten, I got the collected wild Paulownia seed in 1977.  "The collection number is 1703-77 collected in South Korea by Steve Spongberg and Dick Weaver. Collected - Sorak-san National Park, Kangwong-do, So. Korea "along the trail from the Sorak Hotel."  Jack too was puzzled by the label of P. tomentosa 'Coreana' but that's how he found it labelled originally and that name has remained with the plants at the Arnold.  He says it is up to the taxonomists to straighten that one out, he saysd say P. tomentosa f. coreana or tomentosa f. koreana would make more sense.

Jack has not had die-back in his plants but nor with the straight P. tomentosa he grows.   I reckon the blistering summer heat of Boston fully hardens the pithy young wood of the young Paulownias. So we can't say much about its hardiness until the Gardens at Annapolis plants a regular tomentosa and does some comparisons.  The recent spate of mild winters can fool us on such matters.

Of the original collection I swear every seed sprouted and there were hundreds.  I gave them all away but one.  That one I stored potted in my greenhouse for the winters.  One year I forgot to water it in the summer and it died of drought.  That pot sat behind a large tub which got watered regularly and by luck must have ocassionally received some stray flying water.  Accidentally I watered the empty pot a year later and up from the roots came a booming Paulownia which eventually went on to the Annapolis Historic Gardens sometime in the mid-90's or later. In the interim it was stored for the winter in a cold room in the basement, there too it annually lost all its new growth - it was so soft and unhardened and seemed to almost rot back.  Young P.s are mostly pithy and hollow whereas mature ones are prized for their wood - curious.

A local friend came back from Varna one year - maybe 5 years ago with a peck of P. tomentosa seed. He asked me if I wanted any and I told him I didn't and anyway the Paulownia was too iffy to bother with and that he'd be better off trying seed from the Annapolis plant.  Well three years later he phoned me and called me over. His Bulgarian tree was over his roof and was in flower.   I don't know how it has fared since but other tomentosas I know in the upper Valley always freeze back, either partially or completely.  Then they re-sprout, grow like hell to great heights with huge leaves only to repeat the same, never flowering.

So the jury is out.

BTW Same friend also returned from Bulgaria one year with 1,000 seeds of the fabled 'Siberian' palms. I had told him the story of these palms and as he worked for Air Canada he wasted no time going right to the station where the Trachycarpus grew.  They survived a few years but he has remained decidedly quiet on the subject since.  He's a real go-getter and I must get in touch again.

johnw

[TheOnionMan]

Not far from Arnold Arboretum near Boston, Massachusetts, is historic Mount Auburn Cemetery in Watertown/Cambridge Massachusetts. established in 1831 and an outstanding arboretum in its own right.  Many of the tress and shrubs planted there are sourced from Arnold Arboretum.  The site is very large (175 acres) and hilly, easy to get lost inside as one meanders around the beautiful mature grounds.  On one visit in May 2005 in early June 2005, I came across a huge tree showing a mist of purple in the upper canopy, to my surprise if was Paulownia tomentosa in bud, which I never imagined could be hardy in New England after seeing it grow as a roadside "weed tree" in the mid Atlantic States of USA (New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC).
http://www.mountauburn.org/national_landmark/horticulture.cfm

Given the huge size of the tree, suggesting great age, the species is undoubtedly hardy in USDA Zone 5, although possibly at its northern limit, thus not weedy from self-sown seedlings as it has become in milder climates.  I took a photo of the name plate (most plantings are labeled), and in the photo you can see the smaller copper engraved tag that typically has the year of planting, although I can't make out the year.  I didn't get back to take photos when in full bloom, you just get a hint of purple color showing up in these photos as the buds start to expand.

[Stephenb]

I planted Paulownia tomentosa about 5-6 years ago (seed propagated sapling about 10 cm high) here at 64.5N in Norway. It has shown no sign of die back apart from perhaps the first year or two when I think the tips were burnt. Based on minimum temperatures, my garden is boundary zone 5/6  (minimum about -23C in those years). However, our summers are very mild and days above 20C are certainly not that common, so certainly no blistering summer heat like Boston to ripen the wood. I was surprised that it did make it as I'd been told that it would die back in my climate and shoot from the roots. Last winter was very cold here and no damge, but the current winter will be even more challenging as we had a very short summer with only a handful of days above 20C, early first frost date and coldest November - December since records began in the 1700s.

I have one picture of Paulownia tomentosa var coreana taken in the Hilliers Arboretum, England: 

[Hoy]

I have seen a 3m tall P. tomentosa here in Haugesund and an even taller one in Skjold (Norway) some years ago but I think both are dead now. I tried from seed but all the seedlings died in the second or third year.

[Stephenb]

A friend in Kristiansand (southern Norway) had to fell his as it had grown so well that it had become a "nuisance tree", threatening the house foundations... Maybe my seed was from a particularly hardy provenance. Is it possible to propagate Paulownia vegetatively?

[johnw]

Is it possible to propagate Paulownia vegetatively?

Stephen - My guess is it roots like a weed.  I know you can propagate it easily by root cuttings.

Very strange Hilliers had it labelled var coreana as they sent seed a plant or plants to the Arnold labelled Paulownia tomentosa 'Coreana' several months before this wild collection was made. Could it be they are the source of this mis-naming?

Mark - Very strange it has such problems in Zone 6 here.  Could it be our late arrival of summer (many trees don't put on a significant burst of growth until mid July) or the long mild, often moist, autumns? I can only recall one tree in the upper valley not freezing back in the winter, the next year it did.

johnw

[TheOnionMan]

Mark - Very strange it has such problems in Zone 6 here.  Could it be our late arrival of summer (many trees don't put on a significant burst of growth until mid July) or the long mild, often moist, autumns? I can only recall one tree in the upper valley not freezing back in the winter, the next year it did.

johnw

John, you might be on to something there... the late arrival of summer and insufficient time for growth and hardening of that growth.  There is a tree that is popularly planted here, the American Sycamore or Plane Tree (Platanus occidentalis), which is at its northeastern limit of distribution here in Massachusetts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Platanus_occidentalis_map.png

I wonder why the tree is planted in our area, because it has significant problems... ever spring without fail, it has difficulty with emerging leaves, they get whacked by frost and die back, sometimes several times, and the trees look miserable and ratty for many weeks as the trees become nearly denuded while all other hardier trees are fully leafed out.  Eventually the tree succeeds putting out leaves, and then in summer one can enjoy the massive trunks and limbs with striking white bark.  Driving about 450-500 miles southwest to the mid-Atlantic coastal US States, like Maryland and Delaware, the "Sycamores" are spectacular, looking twice as good, much fuller in leafage and overall much healthier than in more northern locales.

Platanus occidentalis - "Sycamore", American Sycamore, American Plane, Buttonwood, Occidental Plane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sycamore.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Konak_Kneza_Milo%C5%A1a.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sycamore_in_Warren_County,_Indiana.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Platane%2C_Trsteno.JPG

[Kristl Walek]

John,
Just to complete the circle and fill in memories....
Jamie Ellison just wrote to say:

"I believe the original tree is in Sackville or close by. I believe the gardens specimen came from a root cutting. I have three plants from root cuttings as well."

[johnw]

Mark - It seems the more we discuss the matter the more confused we get. The Platanus is no problem in the southern part of NS as we are not plagued by late frosts once trees leaf out - mid May to June.  The Magnolias for instance leaf out in that time frame but then in mid July when the night time temps start getting from 16-19c they suddenly but on a huge growth surge - oddly they never have a problem hardening off.

One thing I mentioned about the Paulownia is that as youngsters  they are almost hollow inside. Perhaps planting a 5-10 year old might help. One thing I was warned about when trying English holly here was that if they freeze back they later send up huge sprouts from the base due to the large root system and then this can't harden off for the next winter.  Another puzzle -the hardier American holly is decidedly difficult here!

johnw

[johnw]

John,
Just to complete the circle and fill in memories....
Jamie Ellison just wrote to say:

"I believe the original tree is in Sackville or close by. ."

What original tree?

johnw

[Stephenb]

Is it possible to propagate Paulownia vegetatively?

Very strange Hilliers had it labelled var coreana as they sent a plant or plants to the Arnold labelled Paulownia tomentosa 'Coreana' several months before this wild collection was made. Could it be they are the source of this mis-naming?

Mark - Very strange it has such problems in Zone 6 here.  Could it be our late arrival of summer (many trees don't put on a significant burst of growth until mid July) or the long mild, often moist, autumns? I can only recall one tree in the upper valley not freezing back in the winter, the next year it did.

johnw

You can search the Hilliers accessions here:
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/hilliergardens/hilliergardens-ourplants.htm

However, I see no reference to a var coreana... My picture is from July 2007.

One special feature of our climate is that we never get late frosts here, because we have little or no darkness by the time the leaves come out in May. It's much easier growing plums for that reason than Southern England..

[johnw]

Stephen  - Here are the accession records from the Arnold inventory here. You can see it was received as seed in April 77 and mine in October.


Paulownia tomentosa 'Coreana'

Accession number: 1703-77
Accession date: 17 Oct 1977
Received as: seed

Provenance:         
Wild collected in Korea, Republic of   Kangwong-do   Sorak-san National Park   

Locality: along the trail from the Sorak Hotel

Collector(s) and/or collection number(s): Spongberg, S. A. and Weaver, R. E. 423
Collection date: 7 Oct 1977

Source: 1977 Exp. to Korea and Japan


Living plants of this accession
Individual Plant -   Location (grid or other) -   Quadrant (if applicable)
B   21   SE
C   21   SE
E   21   NW


Paulownia tomentosa 'Coreana'

Accession number: 730-77
Accession date: 21 Apr 1977
Received as: seed

Provenance:         
Wild collected in Korea, Republic of         


Collector(s) and/or collection number(s): M. & H. 173
Collection date: 1976

Source: Hillier Nurseries, England


Living plants of this accession
Individual Plant -   Location (grid or other) -   Quadrant (if applicable)
D   21   NW


johnw  - rain & wind, +7c

[Stephenb]

There are two old Hilliers accessions from 1976! Unfortunately there's no more detail than this:

Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud.   Accession no: 1976.9982
Qualifier Area Area name Height DBH Date
Y BU200 Upper Brentry 200 13.7 m 41.4 cm 24 Jul 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud.   Accession no: 1976.9988
Qualifier Area Area name Height DBH Date
S BU200 Upper Brentry 200 17.5 m 60.3 cm 19 Jun 2006