Long Point's Poplars

Visit Long Point and you will see a peninsula lined with mature poplar trees.  My husband Rob loves the way their heart-shaped leaves sway in the breeze.  I googled poplar trees and discovered that they may grow anywhere from 50 to 165 feet tall and their trunks may grow up to 8 feet in diameter.  Their bark can be as light as white or as dark as grey.  They bloom with yellow blossoms in the spring along with small capsules of "fruit".  Poplars, part of the willow family, are fast growing and durable trees.  Italians have used poplar wood to paint on including Da Vinci's Mona Lisa while Americans have used it to build snowboards, guitars and drums.  While Southern Ontario has many poplars, the Carolinian type tree tends to be the most common in the Southern United States (South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee). 

 

 

Photo courtesy www.bulletnews.niagara.ca.