For this reason, it is a popular tree to plant for quick shade.
As a bonus, its wood is very valuable.
In fact, it’s so valuable that people sometimes steal young empress trees in the dead of night.
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The Japanese also prize it highly as the perfect wood for making sandals.
How To Care For Empress Trees
Empress trees are incredibly easy to grow.
The soil should be more acidic than alkaline and preferably moist, sandy loam.
We recommend cutting thisfast-growing shade treeto around 5 feet tall when autumn comes.
The trees pictured at the start of this article are growing on buried busted-up concrete rubble.
They are considered invasive in the Southeast, and state governments from Tennessee to Florida recommend against planting them.
If planted too close to a building, the roots have a strong potential to damage the foundation.
Therefore, the empress tree is not recommended for landscaping.
If that happens, be sure to uproot them long before they’ve had time to mature.
You do not want a yard full of these giants, despite their beauty.
Light
Empress trees do best in full sun.
But the trees prefer deep, moist, sandy loam.
Heavy clay is not recommended.
Water
This tree will grow best in a moist, but well-drained site.
Water during dry spells while the tree is getting established.
Empress trees can handle dryer soil once they mature.
The tree flowers well in climates with long, hot summers.
Lack of cold-hardiness is one limitation if you are growing thistree for its flowers, though.
Flower buds are usually killed north of the Upper South (Zone 6).
Avoid planting in a site exposed to cold winter winds.
Use a balanced slow-release fertilizer like Osmocote.
If you do this, remove all but a strong central leader when the tree resprouts.
The central leader will form a new trunk and branches.
If you’re looking to remove an empress tree, cutting it to the ground won’tkill it.
Fungi can infect the tree and cause stem canker, is best treated by an arborist.
Planting the tree in a good site and keeping it in good health should deter any fungal infections.
Increase light exposure if your tree was planted in shade.
Limit pruning to right after blooming has finished in spring, or prune lightly.
