This truly spectacular tree is another of the Paulownia group, and is the fastest-growing of them all. More exotic than the more common Paulownia tomentosa, it opens its darker, cherry-tree pink "foxglove" flowers on naked branches in early spring with the large, dinner-plate-sized, soft furry leaves appearing later. If cut nearly to the ground in spring, enormous leaves develop on the shoots sprouting from the soil. It does especially well in poor, impoverished and quite dry soil!
