THE POWER OF THE PLANT

The most talked about trees on my property by family, friends and general passerbys, without a doubt are my two curbside Royal Empress trees. Hard to believe I planted two bare roots two years ago. This being the start of it's third season is where the fun truly begins. I've had multiple unknown passerby stop while walking, and even pull over in their car to have a closer look. In the first year people thought I'd lost my marbles and planted two gigantic sunflowers on my curb. They were convinced! I initially trained the saplings and allowed only one shoot to grow while plucking away any other shoots that fought to grow (seemingly daily new shoots budded) but I left the gigantic leaves all the way up the soon to be stalk that would become the tree's trunk.  In the second growing season I had an established "pole." No better way to describe what the trees looked like. At this point the nicknames began. "Jurassic Tree" and "Jack and the B...

In my somewhat (many) years on this planet I have yet to experience a winter such as the one that we are currently enduring here in the northeast. Snow, snow and then some more snow mixed with rain that eventually turns into snow is the weather pattern of the season. This might have been exciting had I been a 10 year old boy who (would be) looking forward to school closures, but alas I am not and in fact my place of business has not offered one stinkin' snow-day. With that said I have a few worries regarding my established yet still young shrubs and trees. Some are absolutely covered in mounds of white while others are bending to the weight of the now icy snow mixture. Luckily tomorrow will warm up with temperatures projected in the 50s and plenty of rain, hopefully enough to wash away most of the lingering mounds of snow. My only hope is that the root systems have established themselves enough to keep my young little plants holding on just long enough to endure a few more wee...

My two Royal Empress trees are in their second season of growth and have surpassed 20 feet tall. In early spring when buds and leaved began to appear I pruned back the growth at about 8-10 feet to allow a long tree trunk for aesthetic purposes and to allow the foliage to clear the stop sign. In early summer the trees appeared to have a bug problem as the leaves had small holes in them but as summer progressed the problem ceased so I did not have to spray the trees. Neighbors and passerby do in fact stop frequently and ask questions about the trees. People in general seen excited watching the rapid growth and unique tree.

The neighborhood is anxiously awaiting the new growth on the two Royal Empress trees I planted last spring. While the first year was exciting to watch for the speed at which the Empress shot up, this spring the "beanstalks" have hardener and taken on a woodier look. Beginning in early spring I pruned each new bud that appeared lower than where I wanted the tree to branch out. Here are the two Royal Empress trees after winter dormancy and about a month of active growth. The trees did bloom later than most of the other trees in the neighborhood.

When I bought my Royal Empress tree it was a bare root with a bud, nothing more. That was 5 months ago (beginning of growing season for north east). I told family, friends and neighbors that a huge tree would appear here shortly. They all laughed at me (some people, MOM, even made financial bets with me that the little root with a bud would not grow beyond a few feet tall at most. I PROVED THEM WRONG!  My two Royal Empress trees (sold to me as sterile, non-invasive variety) have shot up to over 8 feet tall and the growing season has not ended. As you can see I am beginning to trim the bottom leaves little by little as the trunk matures. Can't wait to see the beautiful flowers they bare and I'm looking forward to continue watching these two trees reach toward the clouds. Btw…people stop in their cars to ask me what they are ALL THE TIME. They literally have become the talk of the neighborhood. Pretty fun stuff! (click on first image to see progression of growth) ...

People have stopped in their cars and while walking by to ask me what the hell I'm growing on my curb. This is a first year (5 month old Royal Empress) which appears to be a giant beanstalk reaching to the sky and certainly does not appear to be a tree. However, in it's 2nd year the large leaves will fall and the trunk will turn woodsy. This is the fastest growing shade tree you can grow. So far it's been a joy watching the rapid progress. This sterile variety will not spread like rapid fire.