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The Tudor Place Tulip Poplar

Years old200-300

Girth4.85 m

Approximate location.

This tulip poplar was a seedling when the city of Washington was founded in 1790, and it is one of only two trees left from the original Tudor Place grounds. The other is an American holly. That date comes from Tudor Place itself, so the age is worked out from it rather than counted in rings: something over two hundred years, and we keep the band wide, up to three hundred. The National Park Service recorded the tree for its witness tree program as survey DC-3 and called it likely among the oldest tulip poplars in Washington. The trunk measured 60.9 inches across at chest height, about 4.85 metres round, and the estate gives its height as more than 100 feet. The register ties it to the Peter family and the estate they held on the Georgetown heights. It has also outlasted the estate's Great White Oak, which fell in 2019, and that leaves this as the great old tree of the grounds. The newest dated record of it is the 2018 survey. The garden's own pages still show daffodils flowering on the South Lawn under the Tulip Poplar, but carry no date, so if you have stood under it recently, tell us. The garden is open for self-guided visits for a suggested donation, with no booking needed for the garden alone. Its own pages disagree about which days it opens, so check before you go. Montrose Park and the Dumbarton Oaks beeches are a ten minute walk away.

The tree's yearAutumn colour

In bloomAutumn colour

October, when the crown over the south lawn turns clear yellow

The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.

Tudor Place, 1644 31st Street NW, Washington, DC 20007 (southeast corner of the south lawn)You can recognise it by the trunk, about 4.85 metres round, under a crown more than 30 metres tall. It stands at the southeast corner of the south lawn at Tudor Place.

Tudor Place garden is open for self-guided visits (Wed to Sat 10 to 4, Sun noon to 4 per the garden page; a banner says Tue to Sat, so confirm); advance registration not required for garden-only visits, suggested donation, no entry after 3:30 pm. Ticket prices not published on the fetched page.

About 20 to 25 minute walk from Dupont Circle Metro (Red line), or Georgetown buses; 10 minute walk from the Montrose Park and Dumbarton Oaks Park trees (wdc_011, wdc_014).