2004-01-25 - 10:27 a.m.
I have been planting some trees in the woods the last few days. Every year I try to plant 10 or 20 trees in the woods around the farm. We've lost a good many trees to the drought and I plant some nuts at the edge of a raised bed and if any sprout I take the seedlings and plant them around. A lot didn't make it in the droughts we had but some did and ones I've planted in wetter years are doing well. This year I dug up some paulownia seedlings and replanted them here and there. Paulownia trees are some of the fastest growing trees I've ever seen. In good ground they can grow 10 feet or more in one year. We had an older Paulownia break over in a storm a year ago. I sawd it up for firewood and a new sucker came up from the base of the stump and is already over 20 feet high. Paulownia will do that. You can cut one down and they will resprout from the stump and in a few years you have near a full grown tree again.
The wood of Paulownia is some of the lightest weight wood I've ever seen. When dry it reminds me of Balsa wood. It burns fast and hot in the wood heater and is a good wood to start a fire with. About the only complaint I have is that it pops something awful when burning.
The other nice thing about Paulownia trees are the beautiful blooms in the spring. Paulownia trees have long clusters of light purple blooms that are quite fragrant. The blooms remind me of tobacco plant blooms and have the same sticky feel to them. I wouldn't plant a Paulownia near a house because their limbs are quite brittle but at a safe distance from the house they would make a great, quick growing shade tree.
