What kind of tree is this please?

[FLHX Storm]

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this because it kind of qualifies for some other areas too.

What I am looking for is someone who can identify this particular tree that I came across in my travels last year. It could have been in New Mexico Arizona, or Texas where I had seen this in front of a place called the Rib Crib Barbecue back on 05/18/2012. Once the tree is identified, then I'll have to see if it will even grow where I live. But the main question is, will it make some good firewood because if it gets too big, then I'll just cut it down and use it for that.

With all of the trees I've felled this season, I figure I will be replacing at least that number but in more appropriate areas where they can be easily felled at some future date for firewood. Since spring is right around the corner (though it really doesn't seem like it) My focus will be changing over to planting and landscaping, not just for looks, but also for potential future firewood harvest. I have considered putting in a large number of locust (100+), but after reading on here how invasive they can be, I'm not so sure I want them.

Here are several pictures of the tree and it's blooms in the hopes someone can identify it.

 

[trophyhunter]

Those are beautiful trees, commonly know as the Chinese Empress or Paulownia Tomentosa they grow really fast for the first couple years.

I had to deal with removing the locusts from my front yard last fall, what a thorny mess that had become! For some reason in this part of the world they are a magnet for climbing poison Ivy. I'm replacing those with the Empress trees this spring, cant wait for years two and three when they get full tops.

 

[FLHX Storm]

But aren't those also invasive? And make terrible firewood? Seems to me I've seen some of the forum entries indicating that stuff stinks to high heaven when cut or burned. Or is that some other tree?

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Those are beautiful trees, commonly know as the Chinese Empress or Paulownia Tomentosa they grow really fast for the first couple years.

I had to deal with removing the locusts from my front yard last fall, what a thorny mess that had become! For some reason in this part of the world they are a magnet for climbing poison Ivy. I'm replacing those with the Empress trees this spring, cant wait for years two and three when they get full tops.

Don't the empress trees normally have way bigger leaves though? I thought they had leaves more like elephant ears or something like that. The leaves on that tree seem kinda smallish although the picture may be deceiving my eyes. It kinda reminds me of a crape myrtle that we had at the house when I was a kid growing up.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Here is a close view of the leaves extracted from one of the pictures i took. I can't get it much bigger without distorting it. I hope that helps in it's identification.

 

[Woody912]

they look like some kind of flowering crabapple from here. Would not be first choice for firewood, a million limbs to cut. If I was planting for future firewood supply I would plant white ash, fast growing and great wood. Assuming the emerald ash borer does not wipe them out. Your amount of existing shade may also dictate what you can grow

 

[Kevin in Ohio]

Around here we call them Magnolia trees.

 

[trophyhunter]

Don't the empress trees normally have way bigger leaves though? I thought they had leaves more like elephant ears or something like that. The leaves on that tree seem kinda smallish although the picture may be deceiving my eyes. It kinda reminds me of a crape myrtle that we had at the house when I was a kid growing up.

Depends on how they are pruned early on, they can be cut back enough to produce leaves similar in size to a Catalpa but I don't believe they will do it on their own.

After looking at the close up pic I may have called those wrong, the leaves do look to small be Empress tree's unless that's typical of their growth in that climate. Here in the Midwest near the Great Lakes region they grow unbelievably fast year two and naturally have a much larger leaf than that picture shows.

Far as them being invasive, I have planted them before and it's been my experience that they simply just outperform most everything else, not to the extent that they just reproduce all the over the place and become a problem. For landscape use I think they are a good choice, you certainly wouldn't want them for your wood lot.

 

[Dale]

They're sher perty

 

[FLHX Storm]

Don't the empress trees normally have way bigger leaves though? I thought they had leaves more like elephant ears or something like that. The leaves on that tree seem kinda smallish although the picture may be deceiving my eyes. It kinda reminds me of a crape myrtle that we had at the house when I was a kid growing up.

I've looked at hundred of pictures of Crepe Myrtle trees, but the blooms don't match up. I'll look more later today. For now I have more wood to split.

 

[FLHX Storm]

they look like some kind of flowering crabapple from here. Would not be first choice for firewood, a million limbs to cut. If I was planting for future firewood supply I would plant white ash, fast growing and great wood. Assuming the emerald ash borer does not wipe them out. Your amount of existing shade may also dictate what you can grow

Not a crabapple either from the looks of things but thanks for the input about the White Ash.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Around here we call them Magnolia trees.

So far it's not a Magnolia either. I will be planting about a dozen Magnolias later this spring though.

 

[FLHX Storm]

Depends on how they are pruned early on, they can be cut back enough to produce leaves similar in size to a Catalpa but I don't believe they will do it on their own.

After looking at the close up pic I may have called those wrong, the leaves do look to small be Empress tree's unless that's typical of their growth in that climate. Here in the Midwest near the Great Lakes region they grow unbelievably fast year two and naturally have a much larger leaf than that picture shows.

Far as them being invasive, I have planted them before and it's been my experience that they simply just outperform most everything else, not to the extent that they just reproduce all the over the place and become a problem. For landscape use I think they are a good choice, you certainly wouldn't want them for your wood lot.

I may pick up some of the Empress trees for landscape use because I do like their blooms. Fast growing is a plus in my book.

Now if science could only come up with a hybrid that has a nice fat trunk in say 10 years but still has some nice blooms to look at until then, that would be awesome.

 

[FLHX Storm]

They're sher perty

Yeah, but I want the best of both worlds. I want them pretty but I also want to be able to cut them down n chop them up for firewood. Well, that and to kind of replace what I have felled this season. Just put into a more accessible area.

 

[Woody912]

If you are far enough south to grow magnolia then some of the evergreen oaks (willow, peach, etc) might be up for consideration. They grow pretty darn fast in S Mississippi, no blooms but color all yr round. Mimosa grow fast, pretty but messy and wood is harder than I realized. Never burnt any. Sunlight and soil moisture/type is really going to dictate what does best. Might want to talk to your local extension agent or forester.

 

[zogger]

Call that BBQ joint up and ask em!

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Depends on how they are pruned early on, they can be cut back enough to produce leaves similar in size to a Catalpa but I don't believe they will do it on their own.

After looking at the close up pic I may have called those wrong, the leaves do look to small be Empress tree's unless that's typical of their growth in that climate. Here in the Midwest near the Great Lakes region they grow unbelievably fast year two and naturally have a much larger leaf than that picture shows.

Far as them being invasive, I have planted them before and it's been my experience that they simply just outperform most everything else, not to the extent that they just reproduce all the over the place and become a problem. For landscape use I think they are a good choice, you certainly wouldn't want them for your wood lot.

Those empress trees can survive that far north? I thought about as far north as me was it for them. I can see how the photo tricked you though with all those blooms on it. Whenever I saw photos of empress's too, the tree always had those bright pinkish kind of flowers all over them. Maybe if storm upgraded from that 1 megapixel camera she was using, we could get some nice detailed pics

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

But aren't those also invasive? And make terrible firewood? Seems to me I've seen some of the forum entries indicating that stuff stinks to high heaven when cut or burned. Or is that some other tree?

From what I could gather, the firewood is only so-so. Not enough to really get the house warm, but I don't think you would be freezing either. The stinky tree you might be thinking of is what I think is called Tree of Heaven. Never cut one myself, but apparently others have and say it smells like cat piss.

 

[brewmonster]

Not Magnolia. Not Paulownia.
Crabapple or apple is the best guess so far.

 

[autoimage]

i wouldnt worry about good firewood for planting beds...dogwoods make great planting bed trees as well as firewood but who would cut down something like that in well established landscaping. btw i have 3 locust trees in a large bed in my backyard, they send up suckers that you have to pull out but its not much more maintnence than the normal weedeing and pruning/mulching. they have nice fragrant flowers that you can smell from the deck 140' away