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growsflowersnotgrass

Is this a "domesticated plant" ?

This grows across the street from us. None of the surrounding foliage resembles it. I think it was bird distributed to that spot. It looks like an Elephant Ear Tree.

Comments (13)

  • carol23_gw
    10 years ago

    Paulownia tomentosa.

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    10 years ago

    Paulownia tomentosa.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    interesting use of the word domesticated ...

    are invasives included in its definition???

    see link

    ken

  • GrowsFlowersNotGrass
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for identifying this for me.
    Ken, I found one place in our neighborhood where there are three of these, in the corner of someone's garden...
    I had no idea IF this was considered a "gardening plant" or a weed, which is what prompted the question.

    Where is it invasive?

  • carol23_gw
    10 years ago

    There is a map showing the areas in which Paulownia tomentosa is invasive. It includes North Carolina

    Here is a link that might be useful: Alien invasive

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    man i hate when i say.. SEE LINK .. and then forget the link .. lol ...

    anything i find.. that is this aggressive .. fast growing .. and found in multiples.. really sets off the bells and whistles in my head.. to find out why it mysteriously showed up ...

    it usually means birds are involved.. with high germination rates ... and a grows anywhere sort of attitude ...

    to do such ... i ID it here ... then add the word ... well.. like i did at the link.. add INVASIVE after the latin name ....

    one other clue.. is when.. as you seem to have done here ... noticed something really odd.. something that in all your time in this area... you have never seen it ... again.. that triggers.. in my mind.. to ask about invasiveness ...

    ken

    Here is a link that might be useful: there.. this time i did it.. lol ...

  • GrowsFlowersNotGrass
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    THANK YOU so much. If I get the Homeowner's Association to OK its removal, it's still small enough to cut down using a chain saw, plus I have NO issue applying harsh chemical herbicides to the area across the street. It is a very poorly maintained park, mandated in the sales agreement from the owner to the developer, because his family gravesite is on top of the hill, also in wretched shape. That's lucky for us, in terms of privacy, but the tree- a disaster.
    Since we are directly in it's path, and WE are up on top of a 40 ft drop, if that tree is allowed to flower, the seeds will fly all over the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, where there is quite a bit of construction and therefore disturbed ground.
    This part of Orange county has long been countryside with scrubby forest opening into fields and the occasional home site. Now that the majority of the in city areas have been built up(especially in the last 10 years), plus old home on large acreage are being purchased to pull down and build population concentrating homes(apartments, townhouses, single houses with tiny separations of (?) yards), the southern part of Orange Co and the northern half of Chatham Co are aggressively being developed.

    This impingement on the countryside causes me feelings of claustrophobia, heartburn, and a great sadness. When I moved to Tidewater VA, the entire distance between Richmond, Williamsburg and Newport News was separated by heavy secondary growth forest of some age. I left there in 1995, at which time 99% of all the greenery between Richmond and Newport News had vanished. When I returned to the area, about 10 years later, the entire area was even more heavily built up.
    Now, after spending about the same amount of time in this area, about 18 years, evidence of massive urban spread is evident all the way from Greensboro/Burlington/Graham/Chapel Hill/Durham and Raleigh. I hate it.

    I wish I'd had enough money to buy a chunk of land, something between 10-50 acres, put a house down and then been able to leave it to a Nature Conservation organization when I died.

    Thank you for the information.

  • Iris GW
    10 years ago

    Thank you for helping to remove this. Every bit helps when it comes to invasives, I think.

  • rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
    10 years ago

    Looks like there's TWO invasive species in the picture. The second one is much more of a problem, I think.

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    I would have a problem with applying "harsh" chemicals to an area that is accessible to other people, including children, as well as pets and wildlife.

    Walking my dog I used to smell herbicides at the fronts of properties bordering the street, and would steer her away from them. A couple that lived near me had a couple of hunting type dogs that they would walk off leash on the same streets; both animals were dead of cancers not many years later.

  • missingtheobvious
    10 years ago

    Another reason to avoid spraying herbicides is that they can volatilize and travel on the wind for many hundreds of feet (sometimes farther).

    Many garden plants are particularly sensitive to Round-up and the common lawn sprays. Every year the forums on the veggie side of GW have dozens of posts with photos of plants (tomatoes in particular) with classic herbicide damage: stunted plants, new growth twisted and misshapen, leaves missing chlorophyll, etc. Usually the source of the problem is never found.

  • GrowsFlowersNotGrass
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The picture may not show it, but this tree is located close to the base of an 8 ft stone wall, next to a tiny strip of "grass", no more than 10-12 inches wide at widest. No one ever walks there, and no one ever hangs out on the wall. The grass strip is used to provide a street curb.
    When I said that I wouldn't have any reservations about applying strong herbicides, I wasn't proposing to spray the stump willy nilly. After reading about eradication of the trees, it occurred to me that I'll be able to cut it down, and because very little growth surrounds it, I'd be able to take a small concentrated amount of the herbicide and PAINT it on the stump top and sides. I can also repeat the treatment if any runners should appear.

    If there was a practical way to cut it down and stump grind it, I'd go that way. However, it's too close to the newly rebuilt wall. My concern is that I'd start cracking the cement(and I can't afford to pay for the wall).

    Personally, I use almost no manufactured chemicals to garden with. To kill stubborn weeds, I've used white vinegar and hot water on the patio bricks, far away from the other plants. My favorite fertilizer is thick, stinky fish concentrate, that I either mix in a pitcher for each plant or load up the Miracle Grow dispenser for wider distribution. I'd rather tolerate some holes in the leaves of some plants than use something to get rid of undesirable caterpillars, because my plot is tiny and packed with butterfly larvae attractants, like fennel, parsley and dill, plus butterfly attracting plants.

    I apologize for giving the impression of one of those "pay us money to spray your lawn with chemicals in mass quantities to make it green" attitudes. It was a gross exaggeration on my part.

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    If you get the nod from the HOA and everyone is informed that pesticides will be applied to that spot and when then different story than if you go over there and do it on your own. However, unless you have had a camera set up that has been filming the location throughout the day I don't know how you can be sure nobody or nothing that might pick up the chemical application ever goes there.

    Commercial pesticide applicators here often put out yellow flags to serve as warnings after applications have been made.