I’ve written before about how much I love trees, but it’s fair to say most of my hands -on experience has been with native species. Of all the trees I know, probably my least favourite is the poplar. I don’t know why, I just don’t like it, and would never dream of growing one.

Having said that, planted in the right place it can actually look quite spectacular. Take our neighbours place for example.

The previous incumbents used poplar trees to line some of the boundaries of the property. I don’t know exactly when they did this, but today the trees must be 50 feet high.

If you’re looking to make a statement that can be seen for miles around, you could do worse than plant poplar trees. Used in this fashion even I have to admit they are pretty impressive.

Yesterday evening I noticed a small group of starlings gathered in the top most branches, squeezing the last drop of warmth from the winter sun, before it dropped below the horizon.

I also noticed that, despite the high winds we’ve been having which have stripped most of the leaves off most of the trees, the poplars have retained just a handful of leaves right at the very top, just where you’d think it would be windiest.

What’s that about then?