A Tale of Two Trees

When we lived in Missouri, there was a plant in the garden that had me perplexed for several years. It  had a woody stem that grew rapidly and produced dinner-plate size leaves. It was not in a good place for my overall garden design, so for three or four years I cut it off at ground level, not being able to pull or dig it up where it grew amid some rocks. And every year it came right back. I finally searched out what it was: a Paulownia elongata.

With its promise of growing up to 15 feet in a year and producing shade and beautiful flowers, I thought would be perfect for my current yard. My local landscaper was not familiar with Paulownia, so I found a Georgia nursery that carried it and ordered two of them on line. (You can see the bare root sticks in the previous post.) The photo in their ad was of Paulownia elongata, as was the description.

As the twin Paulownias began to put out leaves, I was confused. Their leaves were the wrong shape and had a fuzzy surface, not the smooth leaves I was expecting. I queried the nursery, which never got back to me. (As of 9 May 2018, the page for their Empress Tree/Paulownia has been taken down.) Google helped me discover that there are multiple species of Paulownia, and what I had was Paulownia tomentosa. Who knew?

Paulownia tomentosa in my yard in Georgia

Meanwhile, the Russian pomegranate from the same Georgia nursery never did sprout. When I spoke via telephone to their Customer Service department, I was told that it was a very slow growing tree, that they'd had some planted for several months before they began to show new leaves. Ha. I know a dead tree when I see one. And I want something that will grow quickly!

I went online again and ordered a Paulownia elongata from a different nursery, this one in North Carolina. It it wending its way to me as I type this. When Joe showed up with his auger to dig a hole for a crape myrtle that is yet to be purchased, I had him remove the pomegranate and enlarge the hole for the Paulownia elongata. 

I thought I'd do a good thing and fill the hole with water, so the ground would be good and wet for the new Paulownia. That was before I read that Paulownias do not like to be over-watered. 

Hole for Paulownia elongata, about 7 hours after being filled to the top with water. Only about a third of it has soaked into the dense Georgia clay.

So the tree isn't happy to have its feet wet, and here I am placing it in a mini pond. (As of this morning, about 20 hours after adding the water, the hole is empty but still very wet.)  I have some Miracle Gro soil amendment to mix with the clay when the tree is planted. I'm hoping it will aerate the soil enough so that water will drain away from the roots when it rains. I'll be watering only sparingly during the hot, dry summer months. If it manages to live through the spring rains, it ought to be okay.

Meanwhile, I found some beautiful lavender and white calla lilies at Home Depot. I bought several pots of them, along with some ferns, for the mother and child statue. There is a weed barrier beneath the pea gravel, so they can't be planted in the ground. Until I find suitable containers, I'll dig the pots in so the bottom 2-3" will be hidden by the pea gravel.

The calla lilies are a beautiful lavender and white, which does not show up well in this photo.

The island is shaping up. The chairs are from Walmart, the tri-level table from Hobby Lobby.

The island is a pleasant place to sit in the morning, before the sun gets too hot. 

Yesterday three lavender plants arrived looking healthy and happy and ready to add fragrance to the garden. They'll be planted today, beneath the bird feeders.