I am a Kentucky resident who would love to live in Colorado or Utah. I would like to plant a few quaking Aspen at a new house we built in Oldham county. I have never seen them at any garden centers in here which makes me think they don't grow well here. But I know you can find them in Ohio where I am from. Do you know if they will work here? If so, under what kind of conditions will they do best? I have well drained soil on a hill or a flat section that will keep their roots wet.

Thanks!

Mike Payne

Quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides) are beautiful trees where they do well, with slender, lustrous, reddish brown stems and a smooth, greenish white or cream colored trunk that furrows and darkens with age.

The fall leaf color is a pretty yellow and of course there are those flutterings that give the tree its common name.

Although the quaking aspen is one of them most widely distributed native trees in North America, they tend to be short lived because of disease and insect problems. They will grow in shallow rocky soils and clay or moist loamy sandy soils. Unfortunately for us here in the Ohio Valley, the hot humid summers tend to increase their disease susceptibility and that’s the main reason you won’t likely find them here at local nurseries. If you want to give them a try, there is a place in Springfield that may have some, Valley Hill Nursery, Springfield, (859) 284-5141,or you’ll have to order them from a catalog.