Vine Maple, Mountain Maple

I am fortunate to have these lovely natives growing in my back woods. They really light up in the fall, one of the earliest to turn colo...Read Morer. Difficult to transplant, but not impossible.

The acer circinatum is native of Western Washington with a native range extending along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to California. Thei...Read Morer form is highly variable depending on the conditions they’re grown in.

They can be straight and tall when in the relative open, having a large, but delicate Japanese maple-like appearance. However, when grown under heavy forest cover they can be extremely gangly either reaching up with little branching or even stretching for surprising distances nearly along the ground.

Though they have a reputation for vibrant fall color, the vine maples on my property (growing in conditions ranging from mostly sun to heavy shade) actually have the least noticeable fall color of any of the trees in the area and typically only turn a muddy yellow at best. I have occasionally seen others growing in area woodland edges with the red color and when they display it, it is quite striking.

Even without the fall color, when grown in a lightly shaded, open area they really can be very beautiful small to medium sized trees with smooth grey bark and petite maple leaves. They look particularly lovely grown as understory trees in small groupings or as a clump.

This is the only North American species of maple related to the Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum). Grows best with some shade. The ...Read Morespecies is found along streams and rivers in Western British Columbia and Washington State.

The name Vine Maple is due to its habbit of growing tall with few branches if in deep shade. Grows quite slowly and bushy in full sun. Collect seed in fall when the wings are dry but the seed is still somewhat green. This avoids a tendancy to double dormancy and allows germination the first spring. Seed germinates readily if sown immediately and kept moist over winter in an unheated sheltered location.

Plant is reasonably drought tolerant, but prefers moist conditions. Leaves turn bright red in fall.