Catalpa for 2010 -

Mine have pods NOW!

Anyone interested D- mail me.

If you are growing them, what do you like about them, show us your pics!

I love their flowers! They remind me of orchids!

Did you know that they only bloom when it is going to rain?

The old farmers would go by their bloomtime when putting their hay up. They knew that when the catalpa exploded in blossom, rain was sure to follow.

Our catalpas never let us down when we put hay up! We learned to wait until the rain came when they bloomed!

So what do you not like about a catalpa too!?

I've always wanted to get a Catalpa. The only thing that may get bothersome about them are the big seed pods that land in the yard.

Well, you can grind them up in the mower or pick them up. It only comes once a year!

They do get a lot of flowers that will litter up the base of the tree. No big deal, they go away quick enough for me.

The leaves too seem to disinagrate pretty readily. but there are a lot of them so as with any tree. you either rake it or leave it! MIne are however out in the open and I have a lot of room for them. Easier to get rid of these pods than mowing walnuts!

The trees themselves often draw a worm. But not always. The worm does not harm the tree. Many people raise the tree especially for the worms for fishing!

They are stunning when they bloom and have an awesome canopy if they are able to have room to spread it. If not the tree gets tall and lanky.

They are a fairly soft wood, but a fairly nice sturdy tree in my opinion.

I still want one. There's a man-made, wooded area near our property that is all Catalpa trees. What a pretty site in the spring.

In the fall, the leaves often fall before the pods!

I just went through the DG community list to find the Tree & Shrub forum especially for questions about this tree.. and the very first post was this one. How lucky for me!

I live is South Alabama, here we call this tree "Catawba" however that really matters not. A friend that owns a landscape company had several small trees in pots. He readily gave me one.- I need to know if I should leave it in the pot or go ahead and put it in the ground. Our temps are still running 75-80F during the day but getting into the low to mid 40's on some nights.

If I leave it in the pot, does it need to be taken indoors and near a bight light window or do I leave it outside and allow it to go dormant. I'm afraid it may freeze in the pot but I'm so new at these kinds of things, I though it better to ask someone who knows what they are doing..

Thanks in advance.
Tracey

Plant it and water it for a few days running to get it a goood soaking. It will go into shock (dormant) and see you next year! Just water it periodically.

Oh, it will freeze alright, but its an OUTDOOR tree! That is if we are talking the same one! Catawba, catalpa? I think we are.

It needs a huge place to grow, the tree will get very tall 45-60 feet depending on how much it has to reach for light from other trees or if out in open where it can spread that canopy!

Good luck with it!

Show us a pic if you got one!

Thanks Blossom,

I will try to post a pic when I get home from work. I'm pretty sure it is the same. When I googled Catawba Tree, it pulled it as Catawba, Catalpa, and Fish Bait tree. It is the tree that gets the caterpillars that so many people here in the south use as fish bait.

We have 5 acres and I plan to put it on a part of our property that doesn't have a tree within 50 yards in 3 directions and the closest one is probably 30 or so yards away.. It will make a nice focal point. Eventually I may be able to put some shade loving plants under it and have another beautiful shade garden.

Good deal daisylovn!

Here are a couple of my babies this fall! Well they are actually about 12 years old.

You can see the beans! The trees remind me of Edward Scissorhands! LOL!

Here is a picture of my "little one"... I watered it well this morning, though I think the soil that its in is compacted so I poked a few holes with my finger (trying to be sure to not damage the roots) and watered it again. It was on my patio, getting sun, but it was indirect. I moved it out to full sun this morning.. I will plant it over the weekend. I hope it will be happier there.. and in the spring I can watch it grow.

I will follow this post with a close up of the leaves.

Here is a close up of the leaves..

Blossom, Is this the same tree? Did yours look like this?

This message was edited Oct 29, 2009 7:03 AM

To bad it cant stay lilttle! Makes for a lovely patio plant!

I don't know anything about the trees except they're fun to look at. This spring, a neighbor told me there are several of these in my neighborhood. I have two little nephews. When visiting we take "explorer walks." The largest tree is a highlight on our route and we managed to see all the seasonal changes. The boys enjoyed it all - flowers, big leaves and seed pods. The oldest started kindergarden this year. By his request, we made a special trip to collect leaves and pods samples for a school assignment. So I guess the other thing I know about these trees is kids like them too. At least the kids I spend my time with :)

~Sharon

That is a sweet story sharonf1. I remember when I was much younger alot of the kids in our neighborhood loved to play with the "catawba worms" which are the caterpillars that enjoy this tree. I thought that was just gross, but I was an 11-12 yr old girl.

Thanks, daisylovn. If I was into fishing I might like those worms. Have heard they're really good bait. :)

~Sharon

BlossumBuddy, maybe I'll be labelled a catalpa torturer in this thread,
but I coppice my catalpa to the ground late winter every year.
My original idea didn't work out as well as I'd hoped -
I planted 'aurea' and 'atropurpurea' near each other.
Coppicing causes the leaves to grow larger with better color. I thought the contrast would be great.
Unfortunately, the atropurpurea coloration is pretty bland, but the aurea looks great.
Coppicing keeps it a small shrub w/ huge golden leaves.

Weerobin, never heard of doing that! Can you show us?

I'd be glad to, BB, but unfortunately I'll have to wait until spring!

No problema, Im a patient person!