# Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera)

> The northernmost American hardwood, a fast poplar for wet ground whose sticky spring buds fill the air with the scent of balm of Gilead.

Also called balm of Gilead, tacamahac, bam tree, heartleaf balsam poplar, Populus tacamahacca. Category: Uncommon Yard Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/balsam-poplar/

![Balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) fresh leaves and a red male catkin on a smooth gray trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/balsam-poplar-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Cephas, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APopulus_balsamifera_JdeM_04.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 30 to 100 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 2 to 5
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, stream banks, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: [Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK) and 26 other states, north to [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), south to [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and west to [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) ([Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Idaho](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ID), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV), [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI) and [Wyoming](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WY)). Also recorded, not native, in [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC)
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Fast
- Flowers: April to May
- Fruit: Cottony seed, May to July
- First crop: 8 to 10 years
- Mature spread: 40 ft
- Traits: Tolerates wet soil, Erosion control, Wildlife value
- Sold as: Saplings

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Balsam poplar is the northernmost American hardwood, a tall, fast-growing poplar of floodplains, stream banks and lake shores from Alaska to Newfoundland. Its inch-long winter buds are coated in a sticky, fragrant resin, the old balm of Gilead, once warmed in oil to make a salve for chest congestion. Bees gather the same resin to seal their hives. The balm of Gilead tree long sold in gardens is a hybrid clone that seldom sets seed. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania list balsam poplar as endangered at the south edge of its range. It holds river banks and river islands in place. Set it on a wet bank or a pond shore where its suckers and cotton will not matter.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Balsam poplar grows fast, about 2.75 feet a year in our growth estimator. Expect 30 to 100 feet, with a narrow, open crown 25 to 40 feet wide. It is short-lived in the south of its range, though some trees reach 200 years. The oldest dated tree was 207 years old.

Catkins open in April and May, before the leaves, the males with 20 to 30 red stamens in each flower. Female trees shed tiny seeds on tufts of cotton from May into July. In spring the sticky buds, about an inch long, fill the air with a balsam scent as the leaves unfold. Ruffed grouse eat the male buds in winter, and moose, deer and beavers take the twigs and bark.

It grows wild across Canada and Alaska and south to Minnesota, Michigan, New York and Maine, with scattered stands as far south as Iowa, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In the Rockies it grows sparingly south to Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. Look for it on floodplains, stream banks and lake shores and in moist woods.

## How to grow Balsam Poplar

Balsam poplar needs full sun, since it will not stand shade, and deep, moist, fertile soil. It takes flooding on stream banks, lake shores and wet flats, but not stagnant, brackish water or acid peat. Its roots run shallow and far and send up suckers, and older trees drop brittle limbs, so keep it away from houses, drives and lawns. Plant it 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 25 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. The cottony seed lives only a few weeks, too short a time to sell it as a packet. To raise your own, sow it the day the catkins open, on the surface of wet, bare soil. Keep the bed moist until the seedlings are up, which can be within a day.

Water weekly through the first summer unless the ground stays wet. Guard young trees from deer, hares and beavers, which browse the stems or girdle the bark. Prune in the dormant season to keep one leader, and pull suckers where you do not want a grove.

Trees are male or female, and only females shed the cottony seed, from about 8 to 10 years old. Female trees also drop heaps of spent catkins and cotton. Poplar borers can girdle or weaken the stems, and leaf rust, leaf blight, cankers and wood rot also attack it. Forest tent caterpillars and leaf beetles feed on the leaves, though the resin makes it a poor host.

## Sources

- [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Balsam Poplar, Zasada and Phipps 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/balsam-poplar)
- [USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Populus balsamifera subsp. balsamifera](https://research.fs.usda.gov/feis/species-reviews/popbalb)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Populus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Populus.pdf)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 7: Populus balsamifera](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242430290)
- [University of Minnesota, Urban Forestry: Balsam poplar](https://trees.umn.edu/balsam-poplar-populus-balsamifera)
- [Iowa State University Extension and Outreach: Balsam Poplar](https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/forestry/iowa_trees/trees/balsam_poplar.html)
- [Utah State University Extension, Tree Browser: Poplar, Balsam](https://extension.usu.edu/treebrowser/catalog/poplar-balsam)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Populus balsamifera](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=POBA2)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Populus balsamifera](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/populus/populus-balsamifera/)
- [Go Botany (Native Plant Trust): Populus balsamifera](https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/populus/balsamifera/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: balsam poplar, Populus balsamifera ssp. balsamifera](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=401)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology, Eastern OLDLIST of maximum tree ages (Pederson): Populus balsamifera](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/olds/detail.cfm?genus=Populus&species=balsamifera)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Populus balsamifera](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/POBA2)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Populus balsamifera](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.127926/Populus_balsamifera)
- [Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board: Checklist of Endangered and Threatened Animals and Plants of Illinois, 2025](https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnr/espb/documents/et-list-review-and-revision/2025-illinois-list-revision/2025-e-t-checklist.pdf)
- [Indiana Department of Natural Resources: Endangered, Threatened and Rare Vascular Plants](https://www.in.gov/dnr/nature-preserves/files/np-etrplants.pdf)
- [Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Ohio Rare Native Plants Status List 2024-25](https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/odnr/natural-areas/2024-25_Ohio_Rare_Native_Plants_Status_List_FINAL_draft.pdf)
- [Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program: species of special concern](https://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/Species.aspx)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/index.html.md)
- [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md)
- [Pruning at the branch collar, and when to make the cut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/pruning-at-the-branch-collar/index.html.md)

## Related

- Other poplars (Populus) we grow: [Swamp Cottonwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-cottonwood/index.html.md)
- Under its canopy: [Virginia Sweetspire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/virginia-sweetspire/index.html.md), [Wild Black Currant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/wild-black-currant/index.html.md) and [Red Osier Dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/red-osier-dogwood/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Balsam Poplar, add ?species=balsam-poplar with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 2, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar&zone=2&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Balsam Poplar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar): whether Balsam Poplar can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can lift it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Balsam Poplar as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Balsam Poplar is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Balsam Poplar needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 5 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=balsam-poplar:5
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Balsam Poplar where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Balsam Poplar goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=balsam-poplar&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Balsam Poplar flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=balsam-poplar