Thanks all for the I.D. The tree is located in McDaniel Park (Gwinnett County) near the entrance.

My family called it a foxglove tree. It’s like kudzu – difficult to stop the spread if you let it drop it’s giant seeds. If left alone they can grow up to 20′ in a single year. If you cut them to a stump every year, by the end of the summer you’ll have a cool bush. If you ever let them drop seed pods they’ll get out of control. The wood is very lightweight, almost like balsa.

Copied from a previous posting, but I accidentally cut off the first letter (“p”)

Paulownia tomentosa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia_tomentosa An invasive from China Ð not so pretty when the seed pods form and die after opening.

aulownia tomentosa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia_tomentosa An invasive from China Ð not so pretty when the seed pods form and die after opening. My dad called them cottonwoods, too, but that’s a totally different tree.