Tatarian Maple 'Hot Wings'

The "winged" seeds are blood red and grow in clusters all over the older growth. When backlit by the sun they are absolutely stunning. Th...Read Moree color of the seeds don't seem to bleach with the intense mountain sun here in Colorado at 6,000 feet. I don't know about fall color yet. I do not know how long the seeds will remain on the tree and hold their color, but they still look fantastic at the end of July. At this point in late July I would say that the trees are 50% green & 50% blood red. The new growth leafs are light green & the old growth leafs are dark green.

I have only had these four trees one year, but they have grown two feet. I had to trim them for structure as the nursery did a lousy job while they had them.

I will update this in the fall of 2009 if I remember.

I am extremely pleased with these trees & I will give them my ENTHUSIASTIC approval if they get good Fall color. The first fall, (2008) the leafs were sort of brownish & dry, but I attribute that too their July tranplant date & the fact that we had very cold temperatures, (15F) with extremely low humidity, (7%) for a brief period, followed then by normal Fall temperatures. All the other trees in the area had a banner fall color year. I surmise that these adverse conditions caught these young trees by surpise. I was very concerned about the brown dessicated leaves after this early fall anamoly.

Passers by stop and look at them with their hot red winged seeds and they just stare. They ask the same question every time! "What kind of tree is that?"

The bees & wasps, (very small black wasps) love the flowers in spring, the whole tree seems to just buzz with activity in the Spring. If you are concerned with helping your local bee population, these trees are winners, providing an abundant early season source of nectar.

You must keep on top of the suckers in the spring, unless of course you would like to train them as large bushes which I understand they are perfectly suited for, or maybe even a mulitple trunk tree. Current height of these trees is ten feet with 20-25 feet possible and an eventual spread of 15-20 feet. The roots SEEM to be well behaved in their parking strip location.

I would recommend deep watering once a week if you have properly amended the soil. If the temperature is ninety or above, check the leafs to see if they are dry.

I have amended the clayish soil with copious amounts of peat moss and cotton boll compost, (40% by volume?). I also use 2-4 inches of cotton boll compost on top to keep things cool and moist making sure to pull the compost away from the trunk about six inches. Acidified cotton boll mulch would probably be better due to our high soil pH in Colorado.

The first summer, (2008) I gave the trees kelp extract, 0-4-4 and Super Thrive once every three weeks as I was concerned chiefly with avoiding shock and developing the root system.

I have fertilized twice this year, (2009) with Dr. Earth #7, 5-4-4 organic ferilizer, (a slow release product) which also contains soil bacteria & micorizae. First appliction in early spring & second application in mid-July at which time I added greensand just in case they needed the little extras.

When you trim these trees, do so in July/August. If you trim them in late winter they will bleed a lot and and possibly incur a lot of stress due to moisture loss. Think of how sugar maples run when they are tapped in winter.

I understand these trees are suitable for tight spots such as parking strips. I don't know how well they hold up to foot traffic. They will tolerate mildly alkaline conditions, but I don't know how they fare with high salt levels, (use Penmax to help flush out salts). Once established, I am told they are fairly drought tolerant. The descriptions I have read about insect problems mentioned that they are not readily botherd by insects. The leafs in 2009 have been damaged by something although it is not significant. We are having a record year for leaf hoppers & aphids due to a long, cool, moist spring.