I'm trying to get in touch with a grower from one of the outer islands who was at the March Seedy Saturday plant sale in Courtenay BC. I bought a foxglove tree and it was looking pretty good until we planted it a day or two ago. The leaves are wilty and darkish around the edges. Help....is it dead?
I'm guessing by 'foxglove tree' you mean paulownia tomentosa? It's early for it to be fully leafed out in your locale, but if in a sheltered spot or coming from a cool greenhouse it might have began to leaf out early (I'm assuming that if you've had it since March, but just planted it out, that you've been keeping it sheltered?...that would account for the emergent leaves...). In which case the unexpected cold snap (temps. around zero to -1 the last couple of nights on the mid-north island...maybe in your locale) might have frozen the emergent leaves or leaf edges, but it's unlikely to be killed by that. Pretty tough tree that often stump sprouts after a hard freeze, so it will most likely resprout new growth as the temps. warm up. Gently scratch the outer bark and see if you have healthy green cambium; if so, it'll resprout. If cambium isn't green, work down the stalk until you find some, and it will probably sprout from that point. These can even resprout from the very base.
Yes, that's the tree. I'm a total novice. Thank you so much for your advice. I'll quit worrying and see what happens when the warmer weather hits. There are many buds lower down on the stem that appear ok...it's the upper couple of leaves that are in rought shape. And yes, we got the frost, so I am hoping that is all it is. Thanx again for your help.
I planted a paulownia last spring. It was a skinny little 1/2 inch shoot that grew to 3 inches thick in one year and is now 8 feet tall! Very fast growing, and the flowers are very beautiful. Mine hasn't leafed out this year yet, and I thought it might even be dead, but I scratched the bark and it is green underneath, so I presume it will leaf out eventually. We have had a colder than normal spring here as well.