SHADES OF MAPLE: THE TURNING OF THE COLORS (TheMondayGarden.com)

The Monday Garden, Eco-gardening at its best

November 2005, Issue 185

SHADES OF MAPLE: THE TURNING OF THE COLORS

When it comes to maples, nothing is that certain due to significant cross breeding and what appears to be personal choice influenced by clan and individual genetic make-up, physical location, current and past health, the neighbors, the weather, nourishment, and the like � a lot like us when you think about it.

PICTURE: first to turn are the magnificent sugar maples. First Presbyterian Church Stamford CT Oct. 2005

There are some benchmarks, though. First to greet each autumn are the wonderful, wonderful sugar maples (Acer saccharum). They�ll soon be followed by the reds (a/k/a swamp maple) (Acer rubrum), and then the rest of the maples found in Southern New England � the Norways ( Acer plantanoides), Japanese (Acer palmatum, etc. ), sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), amur (Acer ginnala), silvers (Acer saccharinum), and box elders (Acer negundo). Some trees will turn earlier or later than the norm for their group. Stressed trees turn earlier and those with a bit more warmth or light, etc. turn later. The Norways will hold their leaves the longest, often being the only tree still in color at the tail-end of the season.

SUGAR MAPLES: First come the sugars. The classic sugar maple leaf is five pointed and a bit wavy. The autumn color ranges from red and orange to yellow and lime; leaves will often turn from the tip to the stem in beautifully graduated shades. Parts of the tree that get more light often turn first. The color is so brilliant that the trees will often look internally lit, even on the cloudiest day.

PICTURE: the glory of the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), Colony Road, Stamford CT Nov. 2005

PICTURES: sugar maple (Acer saccharum) leaf samples Stamford CT Oct-NOv. 2005

RED MAPLES: Soon after the sugars, the red maples begin to turn. Their color range is even greater�from red and orange to yellow and lime and even an almost purple. The red maple leaves can be solid colored or lovely, lovely one-of-kind calicos. The form of the reds� leaf varies as shown below. The lobes will be pointing forward and the indentation between the leaves will be V-notched, not rounded.

PICTURE: a red maple (Acer rubrum) with leaves that are 5-lobed, and deeply serrated. Colony Road, Stamford CT Nov. 2005

PICTURES: the classic 3-lobed red maple leaf and the 5-lobed, and deeply serrated edge variety. Bedford Street and Strawberry Hill, Stamford CT Oct. - Nov. 2005

SILVER MAPLES: Silver maples are the first to bloom is spring, have beautiful lacy leaves, lovely shaggy bark with orange undertones, graceful fountain-like shapes, and giant golden seeds. However, they don�t have much in the way of fall color. The leaves tend to drop before turning or go straight to brown, with just a brief pass at yellow. Those right on the water seem to be able to hold a bit more yellow a little longer.

PICTURES: the red maple�s close kin, the silver (Acer saccharinum), doesn�t have spectacular fall color. Strawberry Hill and the Mill River Park, Stamford CT Oct- Nov. 2005

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THE BOX ELDER: Our native compound leaf maple, the box elder, has the most beautiful winter buds and year-round stem color but, alas, it�s a dud in the fall. It does not go out in a blaze of glory like its native kin; instead it just fades away.

PICTURE: The otherwise lovely box elder (Acer negundo) fades away in fall. Cove Island, Stamford CT Nov. 2005

ALIEN INVADERS: It�s no mistake that the foreign �invader maples follow the natives in loosing their leaves in autumn. They evolved in different environs and part of their ability to out-grow the natives is their long growing season.

SYCAMORE MAPLE: This horribly invasive foreigner is, admittedly, attractive most of the year but it�s no better than the box elder at autumn color.

PICTURE: The sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) does not have significant fall color. 5th Street, Stamford CT Nov. 2005

AMUR MAPLE: The amur maple is an Asian menace-to-be is now found throughout the northeast part of the country and probably southern Canada. It is listed as potentially invasive here in Connecticut but not yet banned for sale. I see it recommended locally and on the web as a nice small tree. We can�t put the forest-killer Norway maple back in the box and send it home, so why are we starting yet another alien-maple plague? If the horticultural community, including the �.edu� sector, can�t get the issue of invasives right, what are we to expect of the general public? At least the amur has medium-nice fall color, reds turning into yellows.

PICTURE: The amur maple (Acer ginnala) Bedford Street and Grayrock Place. Stamford CT Nov. 2005

JAPANESE MAPLES: There are hundreds of cultivars of the Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, etc. ). The glowing fall colors are amazing. Where I live, Japanese maples are �nice small trees�, good for the yard and under electric lines. They grow slowly and behave themselves. Further south, though, they can become invasive, particularly as understory forest trees. Stamford CT Nov. 2005

PICTURES: samples of just a few of the good-enough-to-eat color of the fall Japanese Maples. Revonah, Chester Street, and Strawberry Hill, Stamford CT Nov. 2005

NORWAY MAPLES: The lovely, deadly alien-invasive Norway maples, beautiful, buttery lemon yellow in the sun, killing everything beneath them, spawning all summer and fall like an insect plague gone mad. Norways can also turn orange or red or a combination. Norways keep their leaves the longest.

Pictures: The Norway maple (Acer plantanoides) downtown Stamford CT Nov 2005. The black leaf is the Crimson King variety.

The Crimson King variety of the Norway (see picture above) has a maroon to near-black leaf that doesn�t turn � just drops off. Think of the Crimson King as the Darth Vader of the maple world.

PICTURE: Big, flat, mushy Norway maples leaves smothering someone�s lawn. Chester Street Stamford Ct 2005.