Tulip Poplar is a gloriously beautiful, tall, straight-trunked tree competing against Sycamore and White Pine for the #1 tallest Eastern tree award.
It has adorable leaves that turn golden in the fall, and like others in the Magnolia family Tulip Poplar's canopy in spring is filled with large, bright flowers--so far up in the tree you might not see them.
Pollinators love the large, tulip-like blooms, and Tulip Poplar also is a larval host to the Spicebush Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Tuliptree Silkmoth and various other butterflies and moth species.
Tulip Poplar is a favorite nesting tree for birds, and the flowers also attract hummingbirds.
Tulip Poplar does well in tight spaces, and you'll often see a grouping of four to six of these trees growing tightly together.
Trunk photo by Evelyn Simak
Tulip Poplar
- Latin: Liriodendron tulipifera
- Pollinator value: Very High
- Wetland status: FACU
- Current height: 10 feet
- Mature height: 70-90 feet
- Light: Full sun
- Soil: Medium
- Flower: Yellow-orange, tulip-shaped, May-June
- Foliage: Deciduous, gold fall, looks like frog's webbed foot
- Landscape: Garden, lawn, specimen.
- More information and native range here