In Praise of the Catalpa

[Polly]

Hi Everybody,

This is the time of year here in Z5 when the Catalpa trees bloom and my
area seems to be singularly blessed with these lovely trees. The roads are
lined with towering cumulus clouds of white blossoms anchored to the earth
with strong, sculptural trunks and branches. The leaves that will soon be
the Catalpa's main adornment are dramatic in their almost tropical
lushness. Their arrangement on the branches is also very pleasing to
behold; unlike some trees that appear to be big, green, monolithic
gumdrops on stilts, the Catalpa's clusters of foliage accentuate and
reveal the structure of the wood beneath. Some seem almost comical, most
are very stately but they all exhibit character.
The seed pods that will follow all this floral exhuberance are to some a
nuisance, but how sad to deny oneself the beauty and sheer exclamation of
this grand tree merely because it makes the lawn untidy for a few days.
This is a tree that dares us to accept the essential messiness of nature
if we want to also embrace its beauties; it cares nothing for the
anxieties of the middle classes, the politics of the suburbs, the tyranny
of the lawn.

Cheers,

Polly M. Law/Thrums End Art Studio
in the beautiful Mid Hudson Valley of NY, USDA zone 5

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[David J. Bockman]

I've read that children sometimes try to 'smoke' the seed pods, calling them
'Indian Cigars'. :o)

[Sharon Litton]

When I was growing up, would go visit my grandparents in Central
Louisiana each summer, and Granddad loved to go fishing on the Bayou
early of a morning, and would enlist my help to gather fishing worms!
He had long poles with a hook on the end leaning up along the Catalpa
trees that lined on side of the drive, and we would use those poles to
shake as many of the branches of the Catalpas as needed, and then gather
the "worms" off the lawn beneath. Don't remember what they were, but
there were always a LOT of them - and the catfish loved to eat em, and
we loved to eat the catfish ;) Catalpas - beauty - AND the best source
of fishin worms around <g>!
Sharon

--
Sharon Litton *** mailto:Sharon...@att.net
http://home.att.net/~SharonLitton/ Health & Disabilities
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/5384/ Sharon's Bird Cage
If you have two pennies, spend one on bread to give you life and one on
a flower to give meaning to your life. Ancient Chinese Proverb

[Paul Onstad]

There was a small Catalpa volunteer I found in my woods and replanted it in
a more prominent position. That was two years ago and it's already 11 feet
high and this year is sporting its first white flowers. It has leaves above
and below but nothing in the middle :) It grows few branches per measure of
trunk growth but the ones it does really shoot out there! Like you say, they
give the impression of being tropical--but here I am--in zone 4a/4b/5 (or
something) where winters get 35 below.

Like puppies, they get a little more serious when older <g> The apparent
parent is from the lot over and is well filled out. It's doubled its size in
the few years I've been noticing it and is now over 30' tall.

Like all fast-growing trees you probably wouldn't want one right next to the
house but they sure make a nice addition elsewhere.

-Paul

Polly wrote:
>
> Hi Everybody,
>
> This is the time of year here in Z5 when the Catalpa trees bloom and my
> area seems to be singularly blessed with these lovely trees. The roads are

> lined with towering cumulus clouds of white blossoms anchored to the earth ...

[Forrest Ladd]

I have a large catalpa just west of my patio and the back edge of the house. It
provides good dappled shade in the afternoon. However, keep in mind that in the
spring it will drop its flowers all over everything under and near it, and in
the late summer and fall the long beans with their hard pods will fall. And the
falling continues all winter, so I am continually coping with those long, hard
pods on the lawn.
Personally, I would never plant one. Having said that, I appreciate the shade
from the one here that now is about forty years old so much that I am not even
considering taking it out.
Forrest

[tvksi]

Sharon Litton wrote:
>
> When I was growing up, would go visit my grandparents in Central
> Louisiana each summer, and Granddad loved to go fishing on the Bayou
> early of a morning, and would enlist my help to gather fishing worms!
> He had long poles with a hook on the end leaning up along the Catalpa
> trees that lined on side of the drive, and we would use those poles to
> shake as many of the branches of the Catalpas as needed, and then gather
> the "worms" off the lawn beneath. Don't remember what they were, but
> there were always a LOT of them - and the catfish loved to eat em, and
> we loved to eat the catfish ;) Catalpas - beauty - AND the best source
> of fishin worms around <g>!
> Sharon
>
> --

They do bring back memories.... walking up the hill and across the
bridge toward school and looking up into the very tall catalpas with
their huge but delicate white blooms; truly beautiful. 'twas in Franklin
Co MO. Now here is zone 7/8 of Texas my son as well as a neighbor
planted catalpas for the fish bait. It does seem odd to me that people
actually want worms on their trees : )

Now I have one , a volunteer, and that's OK, but it is blocking part of
my lake view, so I have mixed feelings about that one.
--
Leona [Lee] tv...@juno.com
Non Commercial site http://www.geocities.com/tvksi/
except for Geo pop-ups etc.: )

[Richard Krape]

I will add my praise to the much maligned Catalpa as seen through my
eyes as a child.
I grew up with them all around, growing in the sand of a NJ beach
community The broadest leaved tree of all would grow anywhere and made
good shade. We called them Indian cigar trees. We never did find out how
to smoke the cigars.

We used the very yong ones growing in vacant fields for playing war.
They would bend with a lot of spring, so we would take a tin can, stick
it on the end and let fly. The cans had some sand in them for weight, so
they sailed in a high arc that anyone could dodge. No one was ever hurt,
but the catalpas made for great running battles that were always fun.

[Bob Kirk]

>When I was growing up, would go visit my grandparents in Central
>Louisiana each summer, and Granddad loved to go fishing on the Bayou
>early of a morning, and would enlist my help to gather fishing worms!
>He had long poles with a hook on the end leaning up along the Catalpa
>trees that lined on side of the drive, and we would use those poles to
>shake as many of the branches of the Catalpas as needed, and then gather
>the "worms" off the lawn beneath. Don't remember what they were, but
>there were always a LOT of them - and the catfish loved to eat em, and
>we loved to eat the catfish ;) Catalpas - beauty - AND the best source
>of fishin worms around <g>!
> Sharon

She's repressing the memory of pushing the point against one end of the
catalpa worm until it turns inside out on the hook... Else sparing us the
details (or at least trying to. Sorry... never fished with them, just read
about it).
As for planting one next to the house: Most those I see around here
(eastern north-central Kansas), including the really huge ones, are about
20' wide. Mess aside, you could hardly ask for something better to put
in a tight space by a two or three story building. The occasional tree is
wider, but not a one so spreading you'd worry about limbs falling on the
house. YMMV, but looking at Dirr it doesn't appear it would vary by much.