Photo Lindsay wrote:
WOW! i do a lot of work in the shed making timber surfboards and body surfing hand planes and use Paulownia 95% of the time due to its light weight and water resistant qualities. but i've only ever seen it hanging up in racks for sale, never in flower. such a beautiful tree!!
I never knew about its water resistant qualities until I saw this today . It is so light the timber that I can carry a 5 metre branch 30cm in diameter without issue
Paulownia wood is very light, fine-grained, and warp-resistant. It is the fastest-growing hardwood. It is used for chests, boxes, and clogs (geta). Its low silica content reduces dulling of blades, making it a preferred wood for boxes to hold fine Japanese edge tools. The wood is burned to make charcoal for sketching and powder for fireworks, the bark is made into a dye. The silvery-grey wood is sliced into veneers for special visiting cards.[10][11]
Paulownia by seed that successful plantations purchase rootstock or seedlings—or propagate their own. Remarkably, although seeds, seedlings, and roots of even mature trees are so susceptible to rot, the wood is not and is widely used for boat building and surfboards.
More recently, it is used as body material for low-cost electric guitars and as the core for lightweight touring skis.[citation needed] It is often used in guitars as the core body, then laminated under a more durable wood, such as the Dean ML XM that is made of Paulownia as the body but is topped with mahogany.[citation needed]
Paulownia is extremely fast growing; up to 20 feet in one year when young. Some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix tree".[citation needed]
As a forestry crop Paulownia are exacting in their requirements, performing well only in very well draining soil, with summer rainfall or availability of irrigation water.[citation needed]
just PM me the details!
WOW .... 
