A Tale of Two Trees, part 2

A Spring Update on my Paulownia Experiment

Last fall I had a post about an experiment I was running with two different species of trees. I promised an update in the spring, and so here it is:

The Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) has had a tremendously productive spring. I decided to prune the root clones it sent up las year in hopes that more energy would be diverted to the canopy of the main trunk, and it seems to have paid off. I also kept the main trunk free of suckers, and didn’t allow it to develop any new growth below last year’s lowest branches. The result so far (and it’s early season) is about an additional 4 feet of vertical growth and significant thickening of the canopy. Here’s a photo as of today:

The Dragon Tree (Paulownia fortunei) got an extraordinarily slow start, which was expected since it is a species from a more southern latitude, but I’m starting to think there is something else amiss since it has very few new leaves and none above a certain point on the tree. Last fall I stripped the sod from a 200 square foot area around the tree to prepare it for a pollinator garden planting. I’m afraid I changed the habitat too much and the tree is not responding well. The native pollinators are doing great, so I’m pretty sure the soil condition is OK, but I’m thinking perhaps taking the sod away left the tree’s roots too exposed to winter cold. Here’s a photo of how it looks today:

I’m going to allow the Dragon to grow undisturbed for the rest of the summer. Even if it begins to show more signs of distress I’m going to leave it be since it does provide a place for our birds to perch. I’ll post another update at the end of the summer since I’m sure you are all very concerned about its well-being.