John & Maria's Garden Pages

Paulownia kawakamii - the Sapphire Dragon tree

Paulownia kawakamii at The Garden House

The arboretum at The Garden House is still relatively new 25 years after it was created from what used to be a nursery and otherwise uncultivated area. Many of the trees are not yet fully mature but for me one has stood out over the last ten plus years that I've been photographing this wonderful garden.

For most of that time I've admired it for its rapidity of growth and the massive leaves, far bigger than the smaller and far more common Paulownia tomentosa, the foxglove tree.

Then, last year, came the first flowers.

Large, pale blue and very exotic looking, they were a bit more sparse in their first year of flowering but have made up for it this year, smothering the branches as the flowers erupt from hairy brown buds.

The display lasts for about three weeks during May, and, unlike its commoner relative is usually late enough that the risk if frost has passed by the start of the flowering season.

Originating from Taiwan and Southern China, it's endangered in the wild, and the best hope of survival is in cultivation.  But for that you'll need a fair bit of room.  Looking at the UK literature it's described as a small to medium hardy deciduous tree. Hardy yes, deciduous yes, small to medium?  Not judging by our specimen growing in the cool damp conditions of the western edge of Dartmoor.  How big it will end up we don't know but it's already massive.  So one for a very large garden, park or other public planting to provide a late spring display to rival the Jacaranda displays of Mediterranean and sub-tropical gardens.