I’ve got a tree in my front yard that has prompted a number of people to ask me what kind it is. It is a northern catalpa. I had never seen a catalpa until we moved to Gothenburg, but there are a number of them in this area and I’ve seen them along the river.

The northern catalpa is a native species to Nebraska, mainly along the Missouri. Everyone knows that this area of Nebraska was pretty much treeless except for the willows and cottonwoods that grew along the river and the red cedar that grew in the canyons. Catalpas in this area were originally planted.

The catalpas were planted for a variety of reasons. The wood is excellent and woodworkers utilized it in a number of ways. Telephone poles were made from catalpa, as were fence posts, and the railroad planted groves of them to use as ties under the rails and as a source of firewood. The seeds, leaves, roots, and bark were used in a number of ways as a form of medicine, and they make great shade trees.

Catalpas grow quickly and they will grow up to 50’ tall with the tallest catalpa in the country, found in Indiana, at a height of over 85 feet.

Other than its size the catalpa has three distinctive features that set them apart. In the spring the tree will sport hundreds of large, white, showy flowers. Inside the flowers are colorful yellow and purple markings, called nectar guides. The guides tell bees where the nectar is located and in getting to the nectar the bees transmit pollen from one flower to the next. At night the flowers give off a fragrance to attract moths, which like the bees, transfer the pollen.

Once pollinated the flower petals drop from the tree and many people don’t like that “messy” aspect of the tree. The pollinated flower then begins to grow long green pods filled with seeds. When mature the pods turn dark and it was this aspect of the tree that gave it the names “cigar tree” and “bean tree”. The hundreds of pods will also eventually fall off the tree after opening and dispersing the seeds. This is another “messy” aspect of the tree.

The third distinctive characteristic of the tree is the leaves. They are huge! They are the largest leaves of any “native” tree in Nebraska. There are exotic trees that have larger leaves, for example, the Paulownia tree which is an import from China. I don’t know if there are any Paulownia trees in Gothenburg, Jeff Kennedy would know, but given they are an aggressive, invasive species we may not want them here.

The catalpas are also invasive which is why I have three of them in my yard. Out front is the biggest one. It started as a seed blown in from what I suspect is the “mother” catalpa a block west of my house. I dug it up as a seedling and transplanted it to my front yard.

The second tree I also suspect is from the same mother tree. It is growing along my vegetable garden.

The third immigrant from the mother tree is growing along my shed. I’m planning on transplanting it but I’m not sure yet where to put it. Anybody need a tree?