Why did Jefferson refer to the tulip tree as \u201cthe Juno of our groves\u201d?\u00a0 Probably because it grows tall and straight, reaching up to 200 feet in height.\u00a0 In a woodland setting, a collection of mature tulip trees is reminiscent of a group of massive columns reaching for the sky.\u00a0 Jefferson, with his love of classical architecture, probably felt instinctively drawn to the trees\u2019 dramatic size and shape.<\/p>\n
Poet Walt Whitman also felt inspired to describe the species\u2019 majesty in classical terms, calling it \u201cthe Apollo of trees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liriodendron tulipifera is a native American member of the magnolia family.\u00a0 Sometimes known as \u201cyellow poplar\u201d, \u201ctulip poplar\u201d or \u201ccanoewood\u201d, the trees grow wild in the eastern half of the continent, frequenting moist woodland and hilly or mountainous areas.<\/p>\n
The \u201ctulip\u201d nickname comes from the shape of the flowers, which appear in late spring or early summer.\u00a0 Upright and cup-shaped, they are a distinctive greenish-cream, with orange markings near each flower\u2019s base.\u00a0 The unusual color and shape make these \u201ctulips\u201d unique among tree-borne flowers, but, because of the size of the trees, they are hard to see from the ground.\u00a0 The fallen ones are equally difficult to miss.<\/p>\n
Honey and other bees gravitate to the flowers.\u00a0 I have never tasted tulip tree honey, but it is supposed to be relatively dark in color and strongly flavored.<\/p>\n
To my eye, at least, the glossy green tulip tree leaves also have a floral connection, resembling the stylized tulips sometimes depicted on early American quilts.\u00a0\u00a0 This connection is even more pronounced when the foliage turns bright yellow in the fall.<\/p>\n
Like magnolias, tulip trees boast interesting fruits, which are long and cone-shaped.\u00a0 In the fall those cones are loaded with the dry, winged seeds that botanists call \u201csamaras\u201d.\u00a0 Once those seeds fall to the ground and germinate, young tulip trees develop quickly, growing up to three feet in one year.\u00a0 The flowers take their time, however, and sometimes don\u2019t appear until the tree is 20 years old.<\/p>\n
It is not surprising that this tallest of the eastern North American trees has been useful over the years.\u00a0 The wood has been made into furniture, implements and crates, while some Native American groups crafted canoes from the straight trunks and used the roots to make tonics and remedies for heart ailments. \u00a0Taking a page from the indigenous peoples, frontiersman Daniel Boone reportedly transported his family down the Ohio River via a long canoe made of liriodendron wood.<\/p>\n
Tulip trees have also provided artistic inspiration.\u00a0 In 1998, the United States Postal Service issued a liriodendron stamp as part of a series depicting native American trees.<\/p>\n
Back in the days when streets were narrow and planting strips were wide, tulip trees were sometimes used as street trees.\u00a0 Now they are simply too big for most street-side plantings.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t mean that you can\u2019t grow a tulip tree in a large lawn area.\u00a0 They are magnificent specimens for parks and other wide open spaces, which is why they are often found in arboretums and botanical gardens, not to mention rural cemeteries like the Mount Auburn Cemetery outside of Boston.\u00a0 The cemetery placement is very fitting, because once installed, the average tulip tree will preside over generations of human activity.\u00a0 The Jefferson-era trees at Monticello lasted into the twenty-first century, with the last one succumbing in 2008.<\/p>\n
So, if you, like Thomas Jefferson, are weary of conversation about political events, seek out the tulip trees in your neighborhood, nearby parks and botanical institutions.\u00a0 Their majesty, longevity and history will give your soul a respite from the daily news.<\/p>\n Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States when he wrote, \u201cAltho\u2019 the times are big with political events, yet I shall say nothing on that or any subject but the innocent ones of botany and friendship.\u201d Jefferson kept to that resolution in the lengthy letter he posted to his friend and fellow garden enthusiast, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3,5],"tags":[1758,688,1759,1760,448,988,1058,1757,1756],"class_list":["post-2262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","category-winter","tag-canoewood","tag-flowering-trees","tag-liriodendron-tulipifera","tag-magnolia-family","tag-native-plants","tag-native-trees","tag-thomas-jefferson","tag-tulip-poplar","tag-tulip-tree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2264,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2262\/revisions\/2264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Tulip-tree-blossom.jpg\")
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