Acer Species, Sugar Maple

The iconic New England tree, with glorious fall color ranging from gold through orange to scarlet. A traditional large shade tree for par...Read Moreks, and an essential forest tree here (Boston Z6a). Not for small spaces, and a difficult tree to garden under due to its dense shade and shallow thirsty roots.

It is somewhat exacting in its requirements. It hates drought and hot summers, and is sensitive to salt, pollution, and compacted soil. Needs a wide root run.

I recently attended a presentation by a USDA extension professor who projected that, with expected climate change, the sugar maple may be nearly extinct in the wild throughout southern New England by 2050.

Here in eastern Massachusetts, I'd be inclined to plant cultivars recently bred for drought resistance, like 'Legacy'.

The Family name for ALL Acers is Aceraceae. Please correct this obvious mistake.

I think this is the most beautiful and best of all the world's large maple trees. It grows about 1 to 1.5 ft/yr and lives about 150 to 20...Read More0 years. In northern Illinois and much of the upper Midwest it is common in certain spots around in the woods. In Michigan it and American Beech are the two climax forest trees, shading the other trees out. It always has good autumn color from yellow to orange to red. In the sandy, acid soils of new England, the color is often red while gold is the norm in the Midwest with richer, silty or clay soils. It is not for tough sites with lots of pollution, salt, limited root space,or heavy clay soil. Dislikes drought. The Black Sugar Maple variety from farther west is more drought tolerant. (I am surprised that botanists have recently thrown the Maple Family into the Soapwort Family). For the sake of genetic diversity, it is best not to just raise a few cultivars of any shade tree. If there is a future problem with global warming in MA or the rest of the US, bring from farther south some more Sugar Maple stock and don't use cultivars.

In Northeast PA, Sugar Maples are a part of life. They grow wild, they are planted all over Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, and popular...Read More in parks. The fall color is well known, They also provide some spring "foliage" with it's red buds, red blossoms, followed by lime green new leaves. The bad part are those "helicopter" things. Sure they're fun for little kids and chipmonks but they sprout everywhere including cracks in sidewalks. The root systems can also be aggressive and I don't recommend them near concrete or sidewalks. I guess cities love them as they are part of the heritage of the northeast US and they are great in public parks but they do a job on sidewalks. This is a case where even a native plant can get mildly "invasive". I would mostly recommend them for naturalizing and in large yards- away from driveways, concrete and buildings. Another issue is summer thunderstorms. These rarely seem to uproot easily but the twigs and branches of these trees seem to snap easily during summer storms. Where I live is in a valley so we rarely get the high winds or severe weather that people in the midwest get. It's just something to keep in mind when deciding where to place them.

i bought a "sugar maple" at my local grocery store sometime in the 90's...i don't see them for sale anymore. they used to be lined up alo...Read Moreng with fruit trees etc. i have a red maple that drops seeds everywhere and i believe every one of them sprouts.i love my sugar maple ...many birds come and drink the sap...i would love to have another one but i'm not really sure what kind of sugar maple i have...i have read there is a type of sugar maple that grows in the south...maybe that's the one i have...anyway, it never makes seed...it has beautiful color in the fall...any ideas on what type of maple i have?chowgal p.s. i live in s.c.

Like all maples this one casts off lots of seedlings. Its strongest point is its phenomenal fall color; I think only the red maple and th...Read Moree callery pear even begin to rival it. Its major drawback, however, is that next to nothing will grow under it. It has extremely dense shade, and very shallow, greedy roots. In my opinion it's a great forest tree but not really that great for one's yard.

I have only one. I love it for all the reasons others do as well plus one more: mine drops its leaves all at once making for quick clean-up.

A large tree with a gray-brown trunk marked with rough vertical grooves, and loose edged plates when old.

One of our most ...Read Morevaluable hardwood trees. The sap and the wood are both used commercially. The sap being rendered into Maple Syrup and the wood is used for fine furniture, musical instruments and fine cabinetry.

The beautiful Autumn foliage is admired by gardeners and non-gardeners alike, as it runs the spectrum from pale amber to vibrant red.

One of my favorite trees for fall color, even here in the mid/upper south. This is one species that points out the need to carefully rea...Read Mored nursery tags: Acer saccharinum (Silver Leaf Maple) is NOT in the same league as its cousin, the similar-sounding A. saccharum

It is important that Sugar Maples develop a strong single trunk. Trim the tree to a single leader when it is about 8 feet high. You'll ...Read Morebe glad you did thirty years later. Large trees with double trunks tend to split in storms.

Sugar maple is a deciduous tree that will grow 40-80' tall (sometimes to 100') with a dense, round crown. This tree is one of the trees ...Read Moreresponsible for providing renowned fall color throughout New England. In the summer, it has medium green leaves that turn yellow-orange in autumn, and a single tree can provide wide variation in color. Fruit is the familiar two-winged samara.

Sugar maples are long-lived trees which grow relatively slowly (somewhat faster in early years.) Native Americans taught the early colonists how to tap these trees to make maple syrup, a multi-billion dollar industry in the U.S. and Canada today; all around, an excellent shade tree for the landscape.