So far I have grown 3 species of Paulownia. None of them have been hardy enough to become a tree in my Iowa climate.
The last try is a Hybrid Paulownia, known as Paulownia Arctic. This hybrid suppose to be the cold-hardiest Paulownia available, so it is worth a chance to get this fast growing tree established on the farm.
How did your Paulownia Arctics work out? Did they survive in Iowa?
So far haven’t had any long-term luck with that one or any of the Paulownia species and hybrids I have tried. Now I am growing seedlings from seed I got from Oikos Tree Crops and will see how that one does.
What zone are you? I’m 5b. Is it a waste if time?
I roughly get -15F in winters as a low, so border of 5a/5b. If wanting this as a tree without winter dieback, would at least need to be in zone 6.
We are just boarding 6a. We has slightly higher elevation which is the only reason. We rarely hit -15,. Even -10 I don’t recall hitting in the last 5 years.
If I give it a try, did the “Select Arctic” variety do any better than the typical Tormentosa variety??
I couldn’t tell, as the past couple winters I have had -20s for winter lows, so that pretty much killed all my paulownias or at least topkilled them, but I think if you try, you should try a hardier one like the arctic, as that suppose to be hardier.