"Catalpa" Quotes from Famous Books
... here and there a single plume of feathery palm swam in a drowsy upper radiance. The shrubbery around him, of some unknown variety, exhaled a faint perfume; he put out his hand to grasp what appeared to be a young catalpa, and found it the trunk of an enormous passion vine, that, creeping softly upward, had at last invaded the very belfry of the dim tower above him; and touching it, his soul seemed to be lifted with it out ... — The Crusade of the Excelsior • Bret Harte
... edges, where the smartweed soon turned a rich copper color and the narrow brown leaves hung curled like cocoons about the swollen joints of the stem. Sometimes I went south to visit our German neighbors and to admire their catalpa grove, or to see the big elm tree that grew up out of a deep crack in the earth and had a hawk's nest in its branches. Trees were so rare in that country, and they had to make such a hard fight to grow, that we used to feel anxious about them, and visit them as if they ... — My Antonia • Willa Sibert Cather
... number of the genera, the plants may be shrubby rather than arboreus in some regions (see the Shrub list), as in acer (A. Ginnala, A. spicatum), aesculus, betula (B. pumila), carpinus, castanea (C. pumila), catalpa (C. ovata), cercis, magnolia (M. glauca particularly), ostrya, prunus, ... — Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) • L. H. Bailey
... were big sunflowers for the canary bird, tiger lilies and phlox and zinnias and lady's-slippers and portulaca and hollyhocks,—giant hollyhocks. Beside the fruit trees there was a great umbrella-shaped catalpa, and a balm-of-Gilead, two lindens, and even a ginka,—a rigid, pointed tree with leaves shaped like butterflies, which shivered, but never bent to ... — Song of the Lark • Willa Cather
... century ago it gained a reputation for rapid growth and durability, but did not grow in large quantities. As a railway tie, experiments have left no doubt as to its resistance to decay; it stands abrasion as well as the white oak (Quercus alba), and is superior to it in longevity. Catalpa is a tree singularly free from destructive diseases. Wood cut from the living tree is one of the most durable timbers known. In spite of its light porous structure it resists the weathering influences and the attacks of wood-destroying fungi to a remarkable degree. No fungus has yet been ... — Seasoning of Wood • Joseph B. Wagner |