Tree ID Please

Hi All, I saw this pic in a magazine...what a fantastic tree....i want one!

Just need to know what it is now! Any ideas?

:D

 

Liriodendron?

 

Catalpa bignonioides Aurea.

You have very good taste my friend ! :D

 

Theirs is a bit of a leggy specimen.

Second photo is paulownia for an alternative, stronger tree. Cheat really MF I have 3 Catalpa bignonioides Aurea :D :rolleyes: :D

 

My eyesight is definitely going!. Looked again and enlarged the picture. BM is dead right and I should have known, we have one too. Ah well, off to the opticians !

 

I agree with BM and MF. Definately looks like a catalpa biggy. I've got 2 small saplings i was given, but i also got a lovely specimen of paulownia. I'm not cutting it back to get the big leaves, i want to grow it for the flowers.

 

Thanks BM, I do quite like the leggyness of the one in the mag.

 

BM, do you think it has been trimmed into that shape then?

 

Hi r2oo,

It is a very young tree and hasn't put out a proper branch network yet. As a rule, they thrive on pruning putting on 10 feet of more in one season if coppiced. That one looks like it has been left to its own devices, and the growing does happen mainly at the top end. You can just about see where there has been natural or deliberate pruning, with new growth lower down by the crown.

I prune mine at varied heights to give a fuller apearence. I like round trees, and with staggered cutting you get a more familiar tree shape. The standard of course, is deliberately pruned to appear full and round. If you bought one, it wouldn't be difficult to recreate the tree in the picture.

The only thing I would say is by staggering your pruning you minimise the appearence of holes when wind damage occurs. Which is more likely with top heavy growth on brittle branches.

Hope that helps, they are lovely trees. There are more than this one to choose from. I would love to grown Aurea and Catalpa erubescens Purpurea side by side, but I have no more room. :(