# Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides)

> Quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides: a medium tree of 20 to 82 feet for zones 2 to 6, when it flowers and fruits, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/quaking-aspen/

![Quaking aspen trunks, smooth and white, rising into bright golden fall leaves under a blue sky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/quaking-aspen-1000.jpg?v=b34443d5 "Quaking aspen in fall color in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, in September 2005. Its catkins appear before the leaves, generally in April or May.")
*Photo: Scott Catron, [CC BY 2.5](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AQuakiesSEP2005.JPG))*

Medium tree, 20 to 82 feet, zones 2 to 6; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow quaking aspen, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Quaking Aspen |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Trembling aspen, American aspen, golden aspen, mountain aspen, trembling poplar, quaking poplar |
| Form | Medium tree |
| Height, feet | 20 to 82 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 30 |
| Zones | 2 to 6 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Fall color, wildlife value, hedge or screen, street tree, erosion control |
| Flowers | March to June |
| Fruit | Capsules, May to June |
| First crop | 10 to 20 years (the minimum for large crops; some open-grown clones bear from 2 or 3) |
| Pollination | Separate male and female trees. Most quaking aspens carry only male or only female flowers, and a grove from one root is one sex, so a female grove bears seed only with a male nearby. |
| Lifespan | Can live 226 years, and the oldest dated one reached 213. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on quaking aspen marks it as one that does not transplant well. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Rocky ground, sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges |
| Native in | 38 states |

Quaking aspen is native in 38 states: [Alaska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AK), [Arizona](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AZ), [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Colorado](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CO), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [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), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [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), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [Montana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MT), [Nebraska](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NE), [Nevada](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NV), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New Mexico](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NM), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [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), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX), [Utah](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=UT), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA), [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). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR) and [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=quaking-aspen): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=quaking-aspen:5): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Gray Birch](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/gray-birch/index.html.md) (*Betula populifolia*): small tree, 20 to 40 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares rocky ground, sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Dwarf Hackberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/dwarf-hackberry/index.html.md) (*Celtis tenuifolia*): small tree, 15 to 30 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares rocky ground, sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Gum Bumelia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/gum-bumelia/index.html.md) (*Sideroxylon lanuginosum*): small tree, 15 to 45 feet, zones 5 to 10. Shares rocky ground, sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Farkleberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/farkleberry/index.html.md) (*Vaccinium arboreum*): small tree, 10 to 25 feet, zones 6 to 10. Shares rocky ground, sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Sassafras](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sassafras/index.html.md) (*Sassafras albidum*): medium tree, 30 to 60 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares sandy barrens, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Western Soapberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/western-soapberry/index.html.md) (*Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii*): medium tree, 20 to 50 feet, zones 5 to 9. Shares rocky ground, dry uplands, old fields and edges in the wild.
- [Every companion of quaking aspen in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=quaking-aspen)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, Iowa State University Extension, the USDA PLANTS Database, Go Botany, the US Forest Service and Virginia Tech's dendrology site.