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These Paulownia tomentosa in Kentville in the Annapolis Valley here were stooled in May. The tallest on the extreme left hit 15 feet from ground to tip as of today. Stinking hot there today - plus 29c.

johnw

And the one with the best shape and hardiest is in its 9th growing season from seed! (Obviously not stooled!)

The seed came from hardy ones growing in Niagara Falls, Ontario. It is just now producing masses of flower buds.

johnw wrote:These Paulownia tomentosa in the Annapolis were stooled
johnw

One hesitates to ask... but what happens to a tree when its stooled?

Think of pollarding/coppacing. Basically you cut the tree to a stump to produce the super large leaves.

I thought it was probably another word for coppicing and pollarding. Wheew.

I planted a Paulownia here in Southern Oregon nearly 5 years ago. I read ahead of time all about them, because I hadn't encountered one in person. They're not common in my area. The claims were that they have multiple tap roots, and go straight down. Ehem. My driveway is now a disaster zone, and the roots are headed for the foundation. In fact, they've reached the slab the garage sits on, and are bulging upward where its halted them so far. They're heaving the asphalt like a breaching Loch Ness Monster. The tree is huge. We've discussed cutting it down, but the damage is done and I'm not sure we can get rid of it that way. Now we're considering cutting a deep barrier and pouring concrete, which would involve cutting the gigantic roots causing the problem, and taking up a lot of asphalt to get them out, then repaving... Or hoping they rot and smack 'em down with a backhoe bucket. So far, no real solution has been settled on, and the roots have heaved the asphalt more than a foot and a half in some places. The thing is a beast.