Re: Identification please - if possible

On 15/5/08 19:27, in article
41a57f9c-dafc-4065-9f32-49a935ea4ee7@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 "Judith
in
France" <judith.lea99@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

> We went out to supper last night and parked in a town square.  There
> was a tree, about the size of a mature Acacia with the most beautiful
> pale lavender coloured flowers, the smell was exotic.  I could see
> some seeds on the tree which looked like nuts, I couldn't reach the
> lower branches to pick one to try and grow it on so I threw some
> pebbles but missed every time.  I brought a flower home that has
> fallen on the ground and Edward took a pic, can anyone identify it.
> It is on on my hand so that you can get an idea of scale.  I will post
> this in another group also.
> http://i29.tinypic.com/35hpgcn.jpg
> 
> Judith

Paulownia tomentosa, Judith - I'm pretty sure.  It's aka the foxglove
tree.
It sets buds in winter.  I sent some seeds to a previous urgler in
Normandy
and she grew so many that she swapped them for a load of plants with her
local nursery.
Was it without leaves at the moment because Paulownias flower on bare
stems/trunks?  
Someone told Ray that they're grown as street trees in Moscow but mainly
for
the leaves because, if they're stooled, they produce enormous and
attractive
leaves in climates where they wouldn't produce flowers.  I *think* I'm
correct in saying that in some parts of USA they're grown as a crop for
their wood.
-- 
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'