The Maples
This is an Excerpt from the Book called “Trees Shrubs & Hedges FOR YOUR HOME”. Continue reading to learn more about The Maples thanks to the author.
The Maples
Acer
Maples are North America’s favorite shade trees, the stars of New England’s spectacular fall colors, and the source of delicious maple syrup. The sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is Canada’s national tree. There is at least one cultivated maple species for every climate but tropical. The larger, slower-growing maples produce hard wood that resists cracking and splitting. These long-lived trees often have strong horizontal branches that can support swings and hammocks.
One of the most widely planted maples is the colorful red, or swamp, maple (A.rubrum). Rounded in form, it grows 40 to 60 feet in cultivation. In early spring, garnet-red flower clusters outline the tree’s branches; later, red leaf buds appear that open a glossy green. The leaves turn a dazzling gold-orange-crimson in early fall and cling to the branches for weeks. Several types have been bred with tolerances for regional climates, so choose a field-grown specimen from a reliable local nursery. ‘October Glory’ succeeds in warm regions: ‘Red Sunset’ withstands winter temperatures to -25◦F.
Coloring the hills of New England and southern Canada in fall, the massive sugar maples (A. saccharum) provide the sap for maple syrup. Sugar maples reach 60 to 75 feet in cultivation_ 100 to 120 feet in the wild_ and grow more beautiful and imposing with age. These trees are best suited to large properties and open woodlands. They thrive in Zones 3-8 but seem to prefer the eastern reaches of North America. In the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, try cultivars, such as ‘Green Mountain’ and the smaller ‘Rocky Mountain Glow’.
The silver maple (A. saccharinum) for Zones 3-9, is sometimes mistaken for the sugar maple. In moist soil the silver maple grows rapidly to a great height and matures into a superb specimen. However, its reputation for rapid growth has too often led to its use as a sidewalk tree. Under such less-than-ideal conditions, silver maple wood is weak, the branches break easily, and the tree never realizes its true potential.
Another popular maple for large landscapes in Zones 3-7 is the Norway maple (A. platanoides), reaching 40 to 90 feet. Its dense foliage is generally a lustrous green. The undersides of the leaves of one cultivar, ‘Crimson King’, are moss green, and the leaves surface and stems are a shade of maroon that is so dark that it looks almost black. ‘Crimson King’ makes an eye-catching specimen, even from a distance.
Some excellent maples provide fall color for landscapes. One of the loveliest examples is the 25-foot Chinese paperbark maple (A. griseum), hardy in Zones 4-8. The fall color is bronze, russet red, or red in warm regions; in cool regions, the color is scarlet. The bark is an enormous asset, mottled in an exquisite combination of cinnamon and forest green. Vine maples (A. circinatum) grow wild in the mainly evergreen coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest. They thrive in coastal gardens from British Columbia through northern California, as does the Tatarian maple (A. tataricum), an import from Europe and west Asia.
Other attractive maples for the home landscape include the amur maple (A. ginnala), which thrives in Zones 3-8, and the Chinese striped-bark maple (A. davidii), the miyabi maple (A. miyabi), and the nikko maple (A. nikoense) in Zones 5-7. For Zones 5-8, choose the three-flowered maple (A. triflorum) or the trident maple (A. buergeranum). The field, or hedge, maple (A. campestre) grows well in Zones 5-9, and the Florida, or Southern sugar, maple succeeds (A. barbatum or A. floridanum) in Zones 7-9.
See “Japanese Maple”, for a description of the elegant Japanese maples.
Culture: maples transplant fairly readily, but it is best to choose young container-grown or balled-and burlapped trees and to transplant them in the spring. They flourish in moist but well-drained somewhat acid soils and full. During dry spells, mature maples require biweekly watering.
