Catalpas in Bloom

I always enjoy my Monday mornings. It's the one day of the week that I keep just for myself - to work on the farm and enjoy just being home for the day.  This morning I had my morning cafe au lait on the back porch and enjoyed the sweet scent of the catalpa trees in bloom.

Three weeks ago or more there were catalpas blooming all over the area. There used to be an old farm house back a  long lane on Cook Road and the lane was lined with catalpa trees. The road frontage for the farm was also lines with catalpa trees. The farm sold to a developer and now its called Catalpa Ridge (or some such thing) and the property is full of nice, upscale houses. All of those trees bloomed profusely this year, but I don't remember a scent coming from them.

Iron's Fruit Farm, a next door neighbor, also has some venerable catalpas that bloomed in late May.  So did Glendower historic mansion in Lebanon.But the catalpas on our property bloom always about three weeks after the Irons and Cook Road trees.

Catalpas are easy to grow.  They are almost weed like. We are forever pulling seedlings out of the flower beds at Glendower. I've often though I ought to pot them up and sell them at the garden club's plant sale in early May,  but some how I never get around to it. Besides, most trees transplant best in the fall.  The old timers revered them for fence posts.  Apparently they are rot resistant.

This catalpa displays clusters of big white flowers  that smell softly sweet.