Dear fingersoup,
It looks like an Empress Tree (_Paulownia tomentosa_), an invasive exotic that entered American horticulture during colonial times when its seeds were used as a packing medium in the Orient to prevent the breakage of china and other fragile objects that were being imported into the British colonies in North America. The small, feather-weight Empress Tree seeds--the eighteenth-century equivalent of the modern Styrofoam peanut--took wind in the ports along the Eastern Seaboard from Boston to Charleston and Savannah, scattering far and wide. The Empress Tree found North America much to its liking and made itself quite at home. The Empress Tree is a beautiful tree with huge, tropicalesque leaves and spikes of fox-glove like lavender flowers in the springtime--a thing of beauty, but, if allowed to have its own way, a sorrow forever. Note: This plant is sometimes called the Princess Tree.

Impressive, thank you very much!

Good grief, don't try to adopt this tree. It's given Severe Threat status by the Tennessee Exotic Plant Pest Council. Do a little bit of research and you'll find out a bit more about it's ugly habits...and whether or not it might be banned in your location.

I think I will pass on this one. =P

It's a trash tree and a pest in my opinion!

If you like a tree with tropical foliage, look into the native magnolias like Magnolia macrophylla and Magnolia ashei - their deciduous leaves get HUGE.

There seems to be a lot of disagreement on this tree...I found several websites promoting its virtues and there are plantations that raise them for the special properties of the wood. If you really want it, whack it back each spring and it will never be old enough to make flowers or seeds...this also keeps the leaves extra large.

I found several websites promoting its virtues

Those are the people SELLING them, of course they are promoting "virtues".

it will never be old enough to make flowers or seeds

Be assured that in the South, it will one day get out of hand, you will move or forget to whack it ... not a good one to get started. There are plenty of other large-leaved perennials to use instead that don't have invasive properties: Fatsia japonica, castor bean plant, elephant ears (although there is one running kind of elephant ears to stay away from), and many others.

Sigh. Let's be honest and get a hold of ourselves. I will agree that _Paulownia tomentosa_ is invasive, but not in the sense of kudzu, with which I have a classic love/hate relationship. As I stated in an earlier comment, the Princess Tree has been in North America since colonial times. That's two or three hundred years, maybe more. I dare any of you invasive plant zealots to show me an area where there are so many Princess Trees that our native plants have been crowded out. Please post the geographic coordinates so that I can take a look for myself. A Princess Tree is beautiful in bloom, with a pleasant fragrance. And it is very easy to control when the seedlings are young. As with young bamboo shoots, one can knock over Princess Tree seedlings almost effortlessly, even without the consumption of a can of Popeye's spinach beforehand. The Princess Tree sets its hirsute, candelabra-like flower buds in the fall. They are lovely winter landscape decorations. The flower buds also make grand Christmas decorations. Clip a bouquet of them and moisten with water. Plunge the moistened Princess Tree flower buds into a large brown paper bag containing a handful of flour. Shake the bag vigorously and remove the whitened flower buds. Arrange them in a vase for a splendid Christmas display. Princess Tree seed pods are also good in dried floral arrangements. I must remind esh_ga that although _Fatsia japonica_ is a beautiful, exotic evergreen, it is marginally hardy in Zone 7B and may not succeed outdoors in eastern Tennessee. Let's also add the Japanese fiber banana (_Musa basjoo_) to the list of large-leaved, dependable tropicalesque plants. Its leaves are enormous and _Musa basjoo_ is a fast-grower that can take a lot of cold and come back strong. Anoles enjoy sunning themselves on this banana's broad leaves.