I've always had a fancy towards this tree since I was a kid. Was thinking of trying to find one or two to grow in my yard. catalpa tree ( photo / image / picture from Clay_22's Garden )
Clay, the catalpa is a nice tree, and we had one when we lived in upstate NY. The "cigars" they drop have to be raked up--they will clog a lawn mower. Also the big leaves don't break down easily and they form a mat, which gets snowed on, and makes a large soggy mess to clean up in the spring. Other than that, catalpas are great!
They grow easily down here, but then the southern Catalpa loves our heat. I don't think I have ever seen one in a nursery, like Hackberry trees they are considered trash trees and not very popular. The northern Catalpa gets much larger than it's southern cousin, grows very quickly for the first few years then starts putting it's growth energy to spreading and filling out. How large is your yard, they can reach 50-90 feet tall and 50 feet wide. The leaves will turn yellow/brown and drop off when under a lot of heat and drought and then they look pretty ugly. We had a couple in the front yard of a house we rented many years ago, west side of the house and they were great for shading during the summer of 1980!!! The blooms in spring look really pretty when they fall on the ground, makes it look like a nice layer of snow...for about two days.. then the yard is covered with icky smelling and looking brown stuff. The beans can be a pain too when they drop, when dried they can break a lawn mower blade if you accidentally run over one. Some people are very allergic to them, make sure you or your family aren't affected before you plant one.
Thanks for the info marlingardener. I'm on 2.5 acres so room is not a problem Toni.I believe I'd have to order online.
If you know someone in the southern states Just get them to dig one and pack the roots to keep damp and mail it to you. Our southern Catalpa is a mid size and excellent for shade and fish bait. Thats why I planted one,, for the catalpa worms.
A tree from my childhood too, we called them Toby Trees. I had not thought of them for years. Are they fast growers? I wonder if the southern ones would survive our winters.....
I have noticed that they have a very distinctive (not so nice) odor when they bloom. Almost as bad as the bradford calary pears...but the mess they make is a lot of work in the fall to get cleaned up.
They do get beautiful little white flowers on them, but the blooms do not last very long. I had 4 of them cut down because tow of them were struck by lightning in the same month! They were close to my house and the "hit" did lots of damage.
