Top-Notch Trees: Maples

Sugar Maple.

Trees add dimension to a scene with their strong vertical forms and provide ornamental character with their seasonal details. They are a useful design tool, anchoring a planting scheme. More importantly, they serve as liaisons or connector points between more large-scale items like buildings or bigger, more mature trees and shrubs or lower-growing perennials.

Because trees are not all that easy to move once established, and because they come with a moderately expensive price tag, placing them in the landscape should not be taken lightly. Do your homework and find a specimen that is suited to your conditions and exhibits characteristics that will enhance your garden. The following tried-and true Maple options are small in stature as far as trees go, but big on impact, making them great choices for restricted spaces.

MAPLE
Acer species and cultivars, zones 3 to 9
Spring to fall (foliage), winter (bark, stems)

Full sun to part shade; moist, well-drained, average soil

The Famous Japanese Maple.

No doubt, Acer is one of the most recognized tree genera in the northern hemisphere. It is often the first tree leaf we learn and collect in grade school. Know for their magnificent foliage, especially in fall, maples are a fairly diverse group, ranging in size, form, and leaf characteristics. While the large shade-tree varieties like red maple (A. rubrunm, and cultivars, zones 3 to 9) provide impact in expansive landscape settings, they are a little big for mixed beds and foundation plantings. Luckily, lots of smaller options offer extended seasonal interest.

Paperbark maple (A. griseum and cultivars, zones 4 to 8) and three-flower maple (A. triflorum, zones 4 to 7) lead charge for small plants with attractive exfoliating bark and striking red fall color. Both grow 20 -30 feet tall and usually about half as wide with an upright, roundish habit, sporting the typical trifoliate maple leaves. They make excellent specimen trees in mixed plantings, as does trident maple (A. buergerianum and cultivars, zones 5 to 9), which reaches about the same size with multiple stems and features gold and red fall color. Amur maple (A. tactaricum and cultivars, zones 3 to 7) is another mutlistemmed option that rarely exceeds 20 feet (and is one of my favorites!).