Quackin Grass Nursery

Populus deltoides 'Purple Tower' (ex: Louis Raymond) - A fascinating Eastern Cottonwood selected in England with all new broad spade-shaped lustrous leaves a deep, dark red-purple supported by darker-colored stems and brighter veins. An upright relatively narrow grower this purple Poplar can be maintained as a fastigiate element. If left to its own genetics it can top off at forty feet, perhaps taller stretching as wide as ten feet. Louis Raymond maintained four specimens as pollards; the eight-footers, each on a vertical bare trunk, erupted at the tops in a glorious purple ball of new leaves and stems. Louis employed structured, formal elements among the casual in his amazing garden that had been in Hopkinton, Rhode Island - sadly no more. Oh! And if you do annually prune this tree and utilize it as a more shrub-like presence the leaves will erupt even larger then if left on its own. We're calling the USDA hardiness range tentatively 5 to 9 with possibility in zone 4. There are sources that have determined the species may be as hardy a zone 2. We're not convinced that 'Purple Tower' would withstand that intensity of cold. Leaves can turn orange in autumn before leaf fall. Average to fertile soils, moisture retentive but draining... no constantly wet feet, I mean, it's not a swamp denizen though it is said that it can be quite content growing in banks at pond's edge. Full sun. Established potted 'Purple Tower' from cutting.