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stguaposfire

Pruning Catalpa Speciosa

StGuaposFire
9 years ago

Has anyone tried to grow and prune a catalpa speciosa into a landscape tree? I know they are generally considered to be weed trees, but when I was growing up my grandfather had a great, enormous catalpa on his property and I have fond memories of it. Also, I know the nearby Univ of Delaware has some very stately catalpas on its campus and they have very interesting twisted bark.

I have a 6ft catalpa right now that I planted as a 3ft stick in April. It has started to branch out in all directions. Should I prune it now to just the central leader? I want it to turn into a nice specimen, not let it look like something that grew wild along the side of a highway. I know catalpas can look amazing, they just often look pretty mangled.

Thanks for any advice.

S

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