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Hill Poplar

Populus deltoides x petrowskyana 'Hill'

Deltoides is the plains cottonwood, found in river flats and coulee bottoms throughout the prairie. Petroskyana is a russian poplar.

Hill is a female clone. No pollen. Pollen can be tough for people with allergies. This also means you get a great crop of cotton fluff in the spring. I've got native poplar anyway, so a ton or so of extra fluff goes unnoticed. The fluff is picked up by the bagger, or turned into mulch when you mow.

Hill doesn't seem to sucker much, another advantage compared to many poplar.

There are several named hybrids from this pair. Brooks #6 is also from this parentage, and is recommended if you want a male clone.

I have two shelterbelts of hill poplar. I planted them three years ago as bit more than pencil sized rooted cuttings. They put on fair growth their first year. and again their second year. Then the resident moose came by and nibbled the end two feet of every tip and branch.

Didn't slow Hill! That year, they've put on 4 feet. The tips are now safely out of reach of the moose.

After four years most of now are 12-16' tall, and measure 2-4" thick at the base. According to a report on the Saskatoon Forest Centre's web site I can expect them to grow about 3-4 feet per year. And that is with no extra water. I'm not sure what they would do with a quarter cup of fertilizer and a decent water supply.

Hill's branches ascend at a 45" angle. Branches, as a young tree, are heavy compared to balsam poplar. The leaves are huge, 5-6 inches across, quite heavy. Like aspen, however, the petiole is thin, compared to the leaf, so they still move easily in a light wind. The sound they make is much like distant elves applauding.

Hill is one of the last trees to break bud in spring. And it's one of the last trees to change colour in the fall. It holds onto the leaves, so that even when the wild poplar are bare sticks, Hill is still golden yellow. (I've come to the conclusion that Hill just does everthing two weeks later.)

This is a great shelterbelt tree. Saskatoon Forest Centre in a series of tests rated Hill as one of the best poplars for coping with weed competition while getting established.