The long, strange summer of weeks of blistering sun, interspersed with fast, hard rainstorms has taken a toll on the green things growing in our gardens and woods. The first trees on our property to show the effects of prolonged heat and sparse rainfall are the otherwise hardy tulip or yellow poplars (Liriodendron tulipifera). The large, four-lobed leaves shriveled and changed from their customary bright green to brown-edged, paper-dry shapes. Tulip poplars are not drought tolerant.
Tulip poplars are not poplars at all. They are members of the Magnolia family, and along with white pines, once were the tallest native trees in eastern North American forests. Native Americans built dugout canoes from the straight trunks, and European settlers harvested the trees to build log cabins. Today, tulip poplar wood is used to manufacture plywood, veneer, flooring, furniture stock, and paper pulp.
The fast-growing, deciduous tree reaches a height of 60 to 90 feet with a spread of 35 to 50 feet in ...