Big-tooth Aspen, Largetooth Aspen

Bigtooth Aspen is not as common or quite as ornamental as its well-known sister, Quaking Aspen, but it is still a very nice ornamental tr...Read Moreee with its nice big quaking leaves and smooth creamy to gray-tan bark that eventually ages to a gray-brown deeply furrowed bark on the lower trunks. Its native range is in southeastern Canada down to Virginia-Kentucky-Tennessee up to eastern Iowa and around the Great Lakes. I first saw it growing in the alkaline dolomitic limestone soil, uphill from the east bank of the Fox River in Batavia, IL. I have seen some at the east entrance of French Creek State Park near Birdsboro, PA and in a few spots near Downingtown, in southeast PA. There are some in some spots of the sandy, acid soils of the pine barrens of southern New Jersey and of central and southern Delaware. I remember seeing some here and there in central MN on vacation years ago. It is found just in certain spots, not widespread all over the place as Red Oak, Boxelder, or Red Maple. It grows about 2 to 3.5 feet/year and lives about 60 or 70 years. It is sort of weak-wooded. It has a shallow fibrous root system and yet it also can spread by sprouts to form a colony. Unfortunately, there are very few sources to buy seeds or plants of this species. A certain Chief River Nursery in Grafton, WI 53024 sells seedlings 6 to 12" high, and a few native nurseries sell them, as Possibility Place in Monee, IL.

A great native aspen that is very useful in natural areas, and naturalistic landscapes. Native to the northeastern United States and Sou...Read Moretheastern Canada and as far south as eastern TN, and NC in the Mountains.

Aspens are best in natural areas as groves. The root systems should never be distrubed as this encourages suckering. Few if any other trees can offer the visual and audible impact that an aspen can on a windy day. They are truly facinating to see and hear.