Paulownia Tomentosa
July 19, 2017If you drive around the island of Mallorca you regularly notice small plantations of thin but high trees with huge leaves. These are probably Royal Empress trees, Latin name Paulownia Tomentosa, native to central and western China. The Latin name has reference to the daughter of a Russion emperor: Anna Paulowna, who later married the Dutch prince Willem II. She was recommended by her brother Alexander to the Dutch Royal family as a suitable candidate for prince Willem II. So here we find all references for the current king of The Netherlands: King Willem Alexander. I zoom in on this as we are Dutch ourselves and I never knew that these trees on our estate have had a relation to the Dutch Royal Family...
How tiny seeds can become big trees
The seeds of the Paulownias are so small and light that if you put a thousand or so on the palm of your hand and you blow gently they are gone. Germination is quite easy. Pinch a few hundred seeds between your finger in a small plastic tray on a wet paper towel, close it and wait. Make sure that the tray is transparent as for germination the seeds need around 150 hours of sunlight - and the temperature should be around 25 degrees Celsius.
Transplant the tiny seedlings into small containers with a tooth stick or a pair of tweezers. They will soon grow and grow and grow and grow.
Growth rate: 5 cm per day
I placed an old measurement ribbon on the side of the one of the Paulownias and when there was an increase in height of 5 cm I would write this down on a note board which I nailed to a tree. When the young trees get to about 50 cm height they start speeding up the growth rate and on average they grow around 5 cm per day. You can\'t believe it until you see it. On this day the tree which I measure has just reached the 2 meter mark. I think it will continue to grow until the end of the year. If the growth rate continues like it is, the trees could go up to 4 meter, in just 1 year !
