here in my zone they reseed like crazy, so should be great candidates for WS.
they can be a pretty tree when in flower, but the bean pods are a bit messy and like I said...they reseed like crazy. I have been ripping seedlings out for a few years, but have been toying with the idea of letting one grow and shaping it into one of those short trees with the ball heads.

I've been talking about Catalpa on tree forum. I have 2 threads going on there. I was told that they're very easy to grow. I bought a 2 ft tree at Arborday.org for $9. I'll buy another one if I can get the price down to $90 for a 10 ft tree. I see very few of them here in my area.

Actually, I just posted a question on design forum few seconds ago on how my plan looks like for the backyard. Catalpa was included in my plan. :)

I love them, they are very beautiful!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: backyard plan

I collected some seed pods from a local Catalpa tree and was going to try winter sowing them too. I love Catalpa..has the most beautiful blooms and hummers like it too. I think it's a wonderful Native tree.
Joann

The catalpa fits nicely in your design layout! They are beautiful trees and you don't see many in my area either.

It sounds like they're a good candidate for WS so that's the route I'll go. I'm sure I'll have extra seeds if anyone else wants to try.

Emily

Thanks Emily. I've only seen 5 catalpa trees in my area. Can I have seeds from you? Thanks for sharing! :)

I just responded to your email Neil.

Emily, I have lots of Catalpa trees in my yard, I wish I could send them all to you. The blooms a beautifull, and smell great, but very short lived. Then comes the worms that eat all the leaves, so we have no shade, and lots off worm poo to clean up. I know not everyone has this problem, but we have for 8yrs now, but our trees are very large. Just thought you might like to here another side of it.
Jennie

Hopefully that won't happen to my catalpa in the future.

Here are pictures of Catalpa trees close to where I live. I took the pictures August 1 of this year.

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Wow those a beautiful pictures of the Catalpa!!! Right now our Catalpa trees are full of the long seed pods and some are nice and brown and dry already..you could probably find tons of seeds underneath those..they are huge!
Joann

i just don't know if it's ok to stop by. It's a very busy street and I don't have anything to park on. I'll try :D

The trees look beautiful lining the street. Thanks for the pictures Neil! Makes me want mature ones in my yard NOW! lol

I think they're a weed tree around here. They grow so fast that the wood is weak and the limbs break. But they are different looking because of those big leaves. They look like they belong in the tropics with cannas and elephant ears.

glad2garden, you are talking about Royal Empress. The tree I posted is different.

hostarookie, I might swing by that place again to pick up some seeds.

v1rtu0s1ty, my trees look like the ones you posted. I looked up royal empress, but the leaves are different. These really are crazy growers here. There's one on the side of my yard that was only a little thing last fall and now it's about 8 feet high and wide. They're great if you want quick shade. Something funny about them is that they will drop ALL their leaves in one night, when the first good freeze happens.

what do you think about their scent? Is it strong? Does it fill your garden?

It seems they do have a scent, but what I remember most is the smell of the leaves when they start to decompose. They smell like old cigarettes in an ashtray. EWWWW!