I purchased two hybrid poplar saplings to avoid having to rent/borrow a truck to get them from a local nursery. Both trees are over five feet tall, but they're also both less than 2 inches in diameter and each tree has less than a dozen leaves. The leaves they do have are mostly yellow/brown and full of holes from bugs. Neither tree can stand straight and one is bowed over so bad that I have to tie it back just to keep the tip from touching the ground. It cost $75 each for these trees and the odds either of them are going to survive looks extremely slim.

Consider yourself lucky. I planted two of these trees in 1998. They are now very tall, however, the root system is so shallow there are suckers that come up all over my lawn. They've killed off perennials around the trees, including two nice lilacs. The roots have also broken two fence posts. I wish I had never planted them. Now it's going to cost me thousands to have them removed.