Poplars are an amazing early pioneer species. They can be found growing in quite marginal, disturbed land, as well as well places where many other plants just can’t thrive. They pave the way for forests to come.
Generally, all of these can be easily propagated by sticking hardwood cuttings right into the ground in spring. Tend to them for the first year (weed, water, protect) and you’ll have a 5-6ft tall tree by the end of the season!
We offer a variety of poplars:
Cottonwood – Populus deltoides – Early pioneer can grow in almost no soil
The Cottonwood is a giant! Beautiful and powerful.
There is a bridge near me that was shut down a few years ago, and since then a few years of leaf litter has been deposited on the bridge, creating maybe an inch or two of soil. What trees are growing on the bridge now? Cottonwoods! Turning a bridge back into an ecosystem.
This trees is common in wet areas as well as areas with very low top soil, like eroded farm fields, old parking lots, or old building sites.
While they won’t reach full size in the extremely marginal areas, when given some wetter soil to grow in these will become some of the largest trees we have in the East.
The leaves shimmer and sparkle in the slightest wind.
Growth Parameters: expect an extremely large tree at maturity which drops a lot of organic matter throughout the year including leaves, branches, and bud scales. Can do very well in close proximity to water, but not underwater. Expect fast growth. Can develop a very wide profile but generally are more upright trees.
Balsam Poplar – Populus balsamifera – Super hardy poplar
Super cold hardy tree! Here in zone 5, outside Utica, NY, we are actually at the southern end of its range! We just happen to have one tree at Old Path Farm that we have started to propagate from, however it is in decline due to pressure from black walnut. So I am happy to help it carry on far and wide!
The leaves on these poplars are a deep glossy green. It has a number of different herbal indications depending on the parts used.
This is a fast growing pioneer species. As with all the poplars, it is a great choice to get fast tree coverage in marginal areas. The balsam poplar would certainly add diversity to a poplar-based silvopasture area, however it can’t be planted too far south.
Hardwood cuttings can simply be stuck in the ground in spring. I’ve had great results by wounding the bottom of the cutting and stimulating it with bottom heat before putting it in the nursery bed.
Growth Parameters: Expect fast growth. Fairly upright, large tree.
OP-367 Hybrid Poplar:
This is a time tested hybrid poplar. It puts on exceptionally fast growth, you can expect “firewood caliper logs in five years”. This poplar is highly amenable to coppicing (cutting flush to ground) and pollarding (cutting about 4-5ft off the ground). Can be used to make fast wind breaks and visual privacy screens. This is considered a fully male tree, so no worry about spreading by seed (if these are your only poplars).
Growth Parameters: if grown to maturity, expect the tree to be up to 40 feet wide. Upwards growth will be measured in feet each year (these can potentially be 40 feet tall in four to five years!), so expect a very full sized tree if it is not managed…up to 100 ft!!
