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Eastern cottonwood

Laurent Bélanger / Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Eastern cottonwood

Populus deltoides

One of the largest and fastest-growing native hardwoods of eastern and central North America - a streambank and bottomland tree reaching 50 to 80 feet (occasionally far more) with a broad, open-rounded crown. Its glossy triangular (deltoid) leaves with coarse marginal teeth and flattened petioles flutter and clatter in the wind, and female trees release the cottony seed fluff that gives the tree its name. Fast, tough, and tolerant of drought and urban conditions, but messy and weak-wooded - Missouri Botanical Garden calls it generally inappropriate for ornamental or urban use, better suited to rural lowspots and stream corridors.

Native: 44 US states + 5 CA provinces

Climate fit: broad (100/100)

Structure

Focal point

Light

Full sun

Water

Consistent moisture

Mature size

50-80 ft tall · 40 ft apart

Hardy in zones

2a-9b

brutally cold to frosty winters

AHS heat range

1-12

Plant range authored in AHS heat-zone terms.

Native in Illinois

Yes

Related products

Cold hardiness

These values are location-based: this location's current hardiness is the baseline, and the 2050 value is a projected future climate for this same location.

Now

Zone 6b

Plotwright

USDA Zone 6b

-5°F to 0°F

Well-suited

2050

2100

Zone 7a

Plotwright

0°F to 5°F

Well-suited

In plain terms: This location has cold winters. Its winters are projected to keep warming through 2050.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

Heat tolerance values are location-based too: heat days today are observed at this site, and the 2050 value projects this same location under a future climate.

Loading AHS heat-zone data for this location...

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 42 ecoregions - 41 climate-resilient through 2070 · 1 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

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Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

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Arizona Mountains forests

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Atlantic coastal pine barrens

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Blue Mountains forests

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Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

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Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

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Central Tallgrass prairie

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Central-Southern Cascades Forests

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Chilean Matorral

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Educator packet

Plant packet

Eastern cottonwood educator packet

One of the largest and fastest-growing native hardwoods of eastern and central North America - a streambank and bottomland tree reaching 50 to 80 feet (occasionally far more) with a broad, open-rounded crown. Its glossy triangular (deltoid) leaves with coarse marginal teeth and flattened petioles flutter and clatter in the wind, and female trees release the cottony seed fluff that gives the tree its name. Fast, tough, and tolerant of drought and urban conditions, but messy and weak-wooded - Missouri Botanical Garden calls it generally inappropriate for ornamental or urban use, better suited to rural lowspots and stream corridors.

Scientific name

Populus deltoides

Plant type

tree

Hardiness

2a-9b

Light

full-sun

Moisture

consistent

Spacing

480 inches