TREE OF THE MONTH

 

 

 

 

 

Catelpa x erubescens

'If I'd known how quickly it would reach that size I wouldn't have planted it there'. This could be a quote from the gardener who planted the stupendous specimen in the rock garden at the Cambridge University Botanics. In fact it's me. At 25 years this tree is over 50 feet high, growing lustily and flowering like (what flowers more than a catalpa?).

Catalpa x erubescens is a hybrid between the Chinese (or 'yellow') catalpa and the American C. bignonioides, a tree that grows to huge sizes in the Middle West. I thought I was planting the variety with vividly purple new shoots (as though it needed further embellishment) called 'Purpurea' - which is the one in Cambridge. Our shoots are only slightly purple, making me think it is a different clone. Never mind. Its huge flower-panicles are sweet-scented enough. I am not so enthusiastic about its beans, like long knitting needles, which dangle in large bunches all winter and into spring. When they fall they are sharp, and just heavy enough to stick upright in the ground. An ingenious adaption to ensure a fertile landing for the seeds?

 

 

 

 

 

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