Chinese Catalpa Seeds

Chinese catalpa is a species of catalpa found in the mountains of China. Rarely available, this species like all catalpas can grow in conditions few other trees tolerate including dry and rocky soils as well as heavy loams. For this reason catalpa, was considered for a while a good urban tree and was planted for a while. What may have 'deep sixed' this idea was the pods. People found the pods messy. However the clean foliage, the excellent growth habit, resistant to decay wood as well as its fast growth make it possible to grow a tree in areas where even oaks would struggle. That is the power of catalpa. I received this seed many years ago from an arboretum exchange and found this single tree in its batch as an outstanding fast growing tree. It developed into a robust tree with huge leaves much like Paulownia. The bright white with dotted yellow and purple flowers are orchid like and appear in early summer. The long thin narrow pods are produced in small amounts and hang throughout the winter. 

This tree has potential as a small shade tree in urban environments as well as a durable species used in conservation for reclamation uses. Not many people have catalpa on their tree of choice. But their flowers, clean foliage and durable nature, it should be considered as a possible timber tree as well as a good urban street tree. 

To germinate the seeds: Seeds normally have little or not dormancy other than sunlight and moisture. The seeds can be sprinkled on the surface of a flat and then water added and kept moist. The seeds will normally sprout right away. Once I put them through a cold moist period in the refrigerator for 60 days and then planted them. There appeared to be some slight better uniformity when they came up in this process.