check out previous thread on this topic.

Invaded by Pawlonia down here in Raleigh. Have chopped, uprooted....still it sprouts up everywhere...

why was this Chinese native tree named for the daughter of a Russian czar?

@gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), I had read that about it being invasive, too. But what I mean is, I've lived in this county for 90% of my life, and have never seen a tree that looks like this! None of my neighbors recognized it, either.

If you do coppice it annually - cut it back to the ground - that will prevent it from flowering and setting seed. But there is no guarantee that any future owner of your property will manage it correctly

At the risk of being a tad morbid... I'm 48, and just refinanced my house during the low interest period of COVID, so I'm gonna be paying on it until I'm 75 :-O I doubt that I'll ever be able to sell it and make enough money to buy a new house that's comparable, so I'm probably stuck here until I die.

And when that happens, there's a darn good chance that the whole area will be bulldozed and turned in to a trailer park or something! LOL

So THAT's not really a concern. The bigger concern is whether I'll be able to physically maintain it when I'm older.

I wish there was a way to sterilize it, because otherwise the pictures of them are gorgeous! I'd love to have a tree like that in my landscape, but there really aren't any others that look similar that would mature in my lifetime.

Coppicing it as gardengal suggests means that it will never flower--that's how you keep it from spreading. Just killl it off now when it's small. And the fact that it's appeared in your area where you've never seen one before is evidence of its invasiveness.

The pic the OP shows is certainly some kind of plantation operation that is growing it in those forms for some specific reason. The wood brings a good price on the Japanese market for various uses.

Coppicing it as gardengal suggests means that it will never flower--that's how you keep it from spreading.

Yeah, but I meant that I wish there was a way to let it grow to maturity, yet still sterilize it.

I've read about plant growth hormone (PGH), but I haven't found any with good results that wouldn't affect surrounding trees. And since I'd have to saturate every branch and seed pod, that becomes next to impossible once the tree is 60' tall.

I guess I don't really have much of a choice but to destroy it :-/

Plant a native.

A Catalpa for example ... similar big leaves and showy flowers.

Much of the to-do about Paulownia involves its reseeding along highways, vacant lots and other "waste places" where it competes with weeds and other "invaders". It's extremely unlikely to take over your or your neighbor's property via reseeding. Note that while P. tomentosa is beautiful in flower, its flower buds are susceptible to winter-kill at temps near zero and below which can occur in zone 7a, so there may not be bloom every year. It also casts dense shade and has no fall color to speak of.

I'd happily trade you one of my unwanted juvenile Ailanthus for the Paulownia. ;)