I want one of those.

Just looking at the blooms and especially the limb structure, it looks like a paulownia tree. These are most often found in lavender-blue colors but there is white. Cut and paste this addy and look at the pix. http://images.google.com/images?q=paulownia&svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&start=40&sa=N Are the flowers bell-like? Are the leaves (when growing) large, almost heart shaped? It is hard to tell without more detailed pix. It seems to me it is just a little early for paulownia to be blooming.

I haven't seen this tree with leaves. I was just passing by and saw it. A friend of mine took the picture and he too said it reminded him of Paulownia although we didn't know there was a white variety. I may have to wait till it leafs out.

i was hoping someone knew as i have not seen anything like that before.
some prunus and pyrus species are in bloom here but not paulownias.
it is so weird, like yard-art and almost appears to have been tampered with! :-)
i will guess prunus terminalis 'bottlebrushii'! *har*

Prunus umbellifera 'Seussii'. Saw loads of 'em passing through Whoville last week. ;-)

LOL @ "Bottlebrushii" and "Seussii". It DOES look like both those things!

Here are some close ups. I did ask the lady if she knew what it was and she stated Royal something. I asked if it was Royal Paulownia she said no...Royal Meteor maybe. She said they bought it out of a magazine that comes with the Sunday paper.

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Looks like some kind of Paulawnia to me.

looks like a pretty good match for paulownia fortunei.
3" fragrant flowers?

Here is a link that might be useful: yuccado nursery

Thanks Jeff, I think you have it!

actually, terry's comments were the most helpful in researching it, along with the flower close-ups.
a search for "white-flowered paulownia" gave the answer!
i guess, because of its youth, it doesn't have many laterals coming off the main branches, causing it to appear freakish like that. the original photo almost gives the impression of a raceme of flowers rather than a panicle.
the p. tomentosa growing on the bank behind our office is nowhere near that stage of flower development.
i take it that you don't want one now, dorie? :-)

Thanks to Terry also! I passed by this tree and thought 'what in the world!'. I called a friend and he took the first pic and I was able to borrow a digital camera and take the others today. My friend actually thought it was some type of Paulownia but we wanted to post it here just to be sure. I knew someone on this board would know or could find out. Thanks again!

I have this tree in trade pots (5)....if I could figure out how to post a pic I would show you mine..this tree is by eastdale mall...

I saw this same tree the other day when I was leaving the mall and thought it was very strange and pretty.

The big tip-off on identification was the strange limb structure and the clustering manner of the flowers. When I saw the flower pix, it was a certainty. There are quite a few of the lavender-blue ones on Hwy 280 between the Office Park (Mountain Brook) and I-459 but I haven't seen them blooming just yet.

Good job, Terry! What a homely little tree....it will lose that gangly look in short time, however.