Poplar cultivation - Canada

Accueil - Hybrid poplar Ontario - Conseil du Peuplier

A Brief History of Poplar Culture in Canada

In the US as well as in Canada there were several periods of industrial interest in hybrid poplar planting and utilization, the first one being with Dr. E. Schreiner, the hybrid poplars in Arnold Arboretum, and the wood industry in Northeastern US (Oxford Paper). However, poplars and willows were planted and cultivated for the benefit of mankind around the world for thousands of years before that.

Poplars and willows belong to the same botanical family, the Salicaceae. Poplar and willow wood demonstrate similarities in key characteristics.

In Canada, the culture of poplars and willows has a long history. The planting and utilization of these trees may have been practised by natives for millennia. The spread of some balsam poplar trees, such as the "Balm of Gilead" and the "Western Balm" and willows used for medicinal purposes provide indications of this. Much later, but still centuries ago, the white people brought with them, along with the many plants and trees they found useful in their previous home, poplars and willows. Lombardy poplar and silver poplar are examples of these poplars. Weeping willow, cracking willow, and basket willow are good examples of the willows they brought. These trees and shrubs were planted around new settlements and farms and appreciated for their usefulness.

Many of the introductions from Europe were of a single type, and even of a single clone (most poplars and willows propagate by twigs or root pieces as clones). Such was the case with Lombardy poplar, silver poplar, and crack willow.

The movement of trees with the settlers from Europe also went in the opposite direction: when returning home settlers took with them many of the useful plants they found in the New World. Thus, eastern cottonwood trees were taken from Canada and planted in France in the 17^th century. These trees, when flowering, hybridized spontaneously with the native European black poplar (Populus nigra). Many of the hybrid seedlings grew well and formed into nice trees. Gardeners selected some of the best and named them "Canadian poplars" because the seed from which the trees grew were collected from mother trees brought from Canada. Thus a new Canadian poplar which did not even exist in Canada appeared with the scientific name of Populus canadensis. This Canadian hybrid poplar became very popular in many European countries and provided the foundation for a widely spread culture of poplar in Europe.

Varieties of these Canadian poplars did not exist in Canada until the beginning of the twentieth century when several clones were imported from Europe and propagated under different names. Of these imports the so-called "Carolina poplar" was the most successful. It has been planted so extensively in Ontario, Québec and the Lake states that in people’s minds it became one of the native poplars. (Working with poplars I often hear people assert that they do not want exotic poplars, they want to plant our native Carolina poplar!). This single hybrid poplar clone has been propagated by commercial nurseries as well as by government forest nurseries. Since the 1950’s, in Ontario alone, more than half a million plants (rooted cuttings) were sold or distributed annually and its planting has continued to present times. Naturally only a portion of the trees survived. Those planted in poor sites and in bad cultural conditions succumbed. However, enough Carolina poplar trees survived to make it a typical tree of Ontario’s landscapes, farms, and roadsides.

As witnessed by the widespread cultivation of poplars, the trees have been very popular with the people of Canada. In most of Europe and Asia poplars and willows have been noted as cultivated trees since biblical times. The Latin, hence scientific, name for poplar is Populus, which literally means "the people" in Latin. Thus the name Populus for the tree signifies "the people’s tree".

Poplars and willows are easy to grow; a twig stuck in the ground grows into a new tree in no time. In this way, by rooting cuttings, trees chosen for desired form and other qualities were and are easy to duplicate and perpetuate. Such trees include, for example, the Lombardy poplar and the weeping willow, both of which originated in Asia millennia ago and have spread by cultivation throughout the world. This means also that the bodies of these trees have been alive for thousands of years! We know poplars and willows as short-lived trees. However, they possess a tremendous capacity for regeneration, they re-grow from roots, and from stumps and twigs, and are often indestructible, living and re-growing for many generations. The same is true for aspen which regenerate from root suckers.

In parts of the world that are deficient in wood, poplars are considered very useful. Not so in Canada, where foresters are concerned with traditional timber species of high commercial value. In a few cases however, some industries showed interest in hybrid poplar for specialty products such as paper, veneer boards, matches, fruit boxes, and composite boards.

Poplar breeding and cultivation started in Ontario in the mid 1930s as the result of an upswing in industry interest. However, the decisive factor was the presence of a poplar enthusiast, breeder and scientist, Dr. Carl Heimburger. Heimburger’s work in selection and breeding resulted in fast-growing and excellent varieties and laid the foundation for a poplar culture. Heimburger represented Canada on the North American Poplar Council prior to the establishment of the PCC.

Since the 1970s the Canadian hybrid poplar culture has been focused in Ontario and Québec, as well as in parts of British Columbia. However, the prairie windbreaks could not have existed without the poplar development work of the PFRA Shelterbelt Centre starting as early as 1900. By the late 1970s the foundation existed for a countrywide interest in poplar culture and utilization and the situation was ripe for the establishment of the Poplar Council of Canada.

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