Just for fun, guess what tree this is..?

No idea - how tall is it?

When that was taken, maybe fifteen feet? Somewhere about there.

I'll keep watching for the answer!

Well, no one guessed....

It is in fact - Paulownia tomentosa.

When I got it I was told that it was unlikely to flower in deepest, darkest Buckinghamshire, but would make a great big-leafed shrub to provide shade.

When we moved it was about fifteen feet high and had flowered for four years previously.

I am wondering now if Gloucestershire is a good place to grow one..?

That was the last thing that I would have thought of owing to the colour of the buds!

Must take a trip to the botanic gardens in Oxford as theirs should be blooming now. This is it last year.............

http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/200634-paulownia-tomentosa-foxglove-tree/member/meanie

They are lovely. I have seen the one in Oxford.
They grow (and flower) very well in Devon & Cornwall. There is one in garden in Cornwall, whose name I forget, and it is fifty or sixty feet in height.
They have a good scent too.

I live at the top of a valley that faces due North, so catch some harsh winds. Still, I reckon I have nothing to lose by giving another one a try.

I have one coming along from seed.

Good luck with yours!