Native Black Poplars

Wimborne is lucky as we have not one but two rivers The lovely bubbling Allen and the gentle sleepy Stour. This creates riverine habitat suitable for a host of wetland species.

The areas around rivers are home to Alder and Willows but one native tree is missing: The Native Black Poplar. (link to publication) They would have been commonplace on the floodplains and by all our rivers and mill ponds but have long since gone.

We are leading on the restoration of these magnificent trees to our riverine landscape. This is very much a partnership project and we are working with many organisations and individuals to achieve our aims.

We grow the trees from cuttings which are obtained from trees further up the Stour Valley and beyond. The cuttings are grown by ourselves for approximately 2 years at a nursery provided by Upton Tree Specialists, and we then offer the trees to landowners who can find a good home for them. We now have 11 trees planted on Wimborne’s Public Open Spaces and many more on private land in the Stour Catchment. It will take 30 – 40 years before these trees taken on their special character of deeply fissured bark, burrs and bosses, downward branches and even sometimes a bit of a lean, but at 80 feet they will be noticeable. In the meantime look out for the young trees which can grow up to 6 feet in a year in the right conditions!