A group of flowering trees, catching the sun, lights up a street corner with a lilac-tinted glow.
The colour of Paulownia flowers is gentle and transient. The buds start a rich purple but the open flowers soon fade through violet to sepia. The colour can’t compete with blue sky….
and recedes to grey on a cloudy day but against the sun the trees seem surrounded by a flowery haze.
Paulownia is known in English as foxglove tree and its flowers show the close family connection with foxgloves. In its native China the tree is it grown as a timber crop and its leaves are used as forage for cattle and pigs. In some regions it is traditional to plant a Paulownia at the birth of a daughter, a practical tradition rather than a sentimental one as the tree is destined to be cut down when the girl marries with the timber supplying her dowry.
The species’ tolerance of pollution and of severe pruning makes it a popular street tree, unremarkable for much of the year but unmissable for a few brief weeks in the spring.
(Click on any photo for a closer view)
April 30, 2017 at 3:18 am
The flowers remind me of a more subtle version of jacaranda
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April 30, 2017 at 9:02 am
I’d not come across Paulownias before moving to Paris and thought at first they were a kind of jacaranda.
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May 1, 2017 at 6:29 am
I can see why. My sister planted some with the idea of eventually selling off the timber. As I recall they mature very quickly.
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May 2, 2017 at 4:39 am
Such lovely captures!!
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May 2, 2017 at 7:53 am
Thank you. I had several failed attempts at capturing these trees first!
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May 2, 2017 at 9:34 pm
Your subsequent attempts built on the earlier ones… nice!
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