Catalpa

I am wanting to plant a pair of these trees this fall in honor of my grandfather - anyone know of a good place to get them that is not going to break the bank? He loved to pick the "worms" and go fishing, never caught anything and that was his point... I know Arbor day has Northern I have read somewhere that I will need to plant the Southern.. any ideas?

Found them really cheap from the U of Idaho !!!! I had to call they were not in the online store and I had to get 5 but 9 dollars for 5 . . . I see a whole street full of these - Mitch

Mitch,

It all depends on the look you want. Northern Catalpa is taller than wide. Between 40' - 70' tall. The Southern Caltalpa has a more rounded look and gets 25' - 50' tall. I found a link that will let you decide. The link shows the Northern Catalpa with a link to the Southern Catalpa. I have read that the Southern Catalpa is recommended for the south.
Veronica

http://www.floridata.com/ref/C/cata_spe.cfm

Thanks Betty - Found the Southern today

I have no idea what the story is with the worms! I have a forest of catalpas on my property and no worms.
You should know that those seed pods are pretty messy and you'll never be without baby catalpa's to share
with your friends if you've got any beds near the trees. (definitely worth it though! The blooms perfume the
place when the bloom).

Anyway - they are gloriously in bloom so here's a few pictures of things to come for you:

he used the pods for worms -thus he made sure he never caught anything thus he could sleep and read the day away out of the house!

thank you!!! A family dispute over this can now be put to rest.

LOL - now you got to tell me about that

OK- My mom bought 10 acres and built her retirement house on it. No trees.
She wanted something low maintence and that would drop its leaves in the fall.
(She had oaks at her old place. They drop their leaves over the winter & into
spring). So - I brought her a nice catalpa. She kept expressing her worry about
all the "worms" the tree would drop. I explained I'd NEVER seen a worm on any
of my trees. She talked to a number of her cousins on her last visit in May and
they confirmed - "yep, those catalpas have worms on them and they'll drop off
the tree on you". This caused her terrible distress. She just hated the idea of
those creapy things dropping on her as she walked under her tree.
So ... I asked her who she was going to believe: me or her cousins? Now we
can reconcile the two stories and no one was really wrong. (Though obviously
I was right!)

Tam

LOL to good to be true! Yep the worms around here are those pods...

Did you already order your Southern Catalpa? I have an extra seedling that I would be happy to send you. It is about about two feet tall.

I did and it got here - If you post on the plant traders forum it will go quick.

The fishbait worms, from which the tree gets another common name (fishbait tree) are not the pods (no fish would want to bite into those!) but the larvae of the catalpa sphinx moth (Google for Ceratomia catalpae). I've not seen many trees infested, but if they arrive they seem to bring the whole extended family and can do some serious damage to your tree. They are easily controlled if they become a problem for either tree or owner. I also agree with those who have said catalpas can be very beautiful trees.

Guy S.

I love the huge leaves on them. Mine are young, only a year or so but are about 5/6 feet tall and the leaves are huge.

There is a seedling of this tree growing in a flower bed at my bank. I'm sure it came from a nearby tree that is huge. I am so tempted to dig it up as I'm sure they will not want this tree growing next to their brick wall. :) Do you think I should go in and ask them if I can dig up this tree or do you think they will think I'm completely nuts. :) It is about 5 or 6 feet tall already.

I would do it!

I bet they will be delighted to have you take it away! Just
ask them and who cares if they think you are nuts ;-)

Our catalpas self seed prolifically. I dug out a few trees
that the previous owner had let get to 4-5' tall & they
both transplanted well. Ones in Hillsdale, Mich. now.
Is that near you? Its in the southern part of the state.

I am in the North right by Dallas. Wow a free tree 5 ft just for the digging.. go for it! That is a good vaule in my book.

Mine are still really small - to small maybe in a few years they will be up for a show...

I'm confused-- if you see a whole street full of them, shouldn't there be seedlings everywhere for you to adopt?

yep - if they dont mow them down...

"I am in the North right by Dallas."
-------------------
RedOak, I know what you meant, but that still gave me my chuckle for the day, thanks! I can hardly imagine how hard our Treelover friend Mike from Minnesota is laughing!

Somehow it feels like Dallas (or maybe El Paso?) right here in Illinois now, with 96 degrees and no rain for the past dozen years or so . . .

Guy S.

You should be here - I have had 90 plus weather everyday from the last week in May! Less then an inch of rain to boot - somehow I am keeping my gardens blooming, some days I dont know how....

Just found this thread, and I have a question. My Catalpa tree is about 12 feet tall, about 4 years old, and it's probably the taller form since all of the branches seem to head straight up. Anyway, a couple of nights ago we must have had high winds since there were several broken branches in the morning. Large branches - 4-5 feet long just broken off at the trunk!

Now I need to prune the whole tree to bring the symmetry back, but it's going to look really ugly. Any advice on pruning these trees? The main leader was broken off, and there's about a 6 inch peeled back area where the top branch was attached. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm afraid I might make it uglier!

I dont suppose you could take a pic?

Here's a photo showing the front and you can see the area near the top where the main leader broke off.

Here's another shot showing the view from the back. Pruning advice would be greatly appreciated. Should I wait until fall, or do this now?

I'd prune clean up any broken/jagged cuts and then
wait til spring to prune it to any significant degree. It
doesn't look as bad as I was thinking from your description.
And I LOVE that rock face in the background!!!!

Thanks, Tammy - so if I prune in spring, it will still bloom? Sorry if that is a dumb question, but I'm new to catalpa. ;-) I didn't get any blooms this year.
The rock face was made by my very creative brother in law out of hypertufa sculpted onto crumpled newspapers and a piece of bent re-bar. He's kind of buried in weeds right now, but in the winter he really stands out.

I would prune some of those lower branches. I would find another taller one to become the lead branch and trim around that. Kind of give it a fresh start.

HI rylaff, I want to cut out that whole lower branch, but if I cut out the whole Y, the tree would be lopsided losing most of the left side. It is ugly though, and I know it would make the trunk look cleaner if it were gone.
That top vertical branch - maybe it can still be the leader after I cut off the injured part, and everything else to the same height. Should I wait until fall or just do it now? Thanks for your help.-G

I would wait until it starts to shed its leaves for the year.

I think the best time to prune is in very late winter/ early spring. If you prune
in the fall, the tree will try to put on new growth. Just clean it up now (so no
broken branches/no jagged breaks). And they grow very quickly. I gave my
mom one - it had two competing leaders and a poof of branches at the base.
It looked like a Dr Seuss tree. I pruned out one of the two leaders (last year,
spring) and found that she's got three leaders now. Argh!

My catalpas are very mature. They seem to bloom big time every other year.
Just a little whimpy bloom last year and glorious 2 yrs ago and this year.

Good luck!

Thanks for your help. I'm glad to not prune it now, as it will be ugly when I'm through. Just as well to wait until it's nothing but sticks anyway. Happy 4th to you both! Galega