Named for Russian Princess Anna Paulowna, Paulownia tomentosa is a Chinese native that arrived in North America as an ornamental and has never looked back. It grows fifteen feet a year and reaches fifty feet tall and thirty feet wide within a decade, producing a dense, rounded canopy that shades out whatever grows beneath it. The large, velvety leaves — five to twelve inches across — and the profusion of fragrant lavender flower clusters in spring make a persuasive case for the tree at first glance. The flowers appear on second-year wood before leaf-out, which is when the plant is at its most appealing.

The case against planting it is substantial. Woody seed capsules split open in fall and scatter small winged seeds widely; the tree self-seeds freely throughout the landscape and is listed as invasive by the NC Invasive Plant Council, the North Carolina Forest Service, the USDA, and the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States. When cut down, it sends shoots from the root system many feet out from the original trunk and is genuinely difficult to eradicate. Weak wood, messy habit, and a capacity for aggressive spread make native alternatives the more considered choice for any new planting.