At first we misidentified this tree as the Empress Tree. In mid-May in Springfield, Missouri, it took our breath away, being 40 feet tall and filled with fragrant flower clusters over a foot wide and deep. Biology professor Paul Redfearn e-mailed us that the tree is in fact Catalpa speciosa, or Northern Catalpa. A beloved landscape tree in Missouri, it grows to 40-70 feet tall and 20-40 feet wide with large, heart-shaped leaves. It blooms in late May and also produces very long bean pods.