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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--
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
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 ...
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.: )
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.
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.