Need help choosing a red maple...

Hi, I'm looking to plant a maple in my front yard and am looking for something with brilliant red fall color.....good shape..not too large a canopy....and low maintenance. I've got it narrowed down to Scarlet Red Maple, Autumn Blaze Maple, Red Sunset Maple, October Glory Maple. I live in Iowa (Zone 5). Would appreciate any suggestions as to which of these varietys has the most consistent brilliant red fall color. Seedless would be nice, but not mandatory. Also important, a tree that wont have a lot of surface roots that would take nutrients away from the lawn. Thanks.

I have an autum Blaze in my front yard and it is a center piece with the fall color. Mine is not red but Floresencet Orange-Red. I plan on the tree getting quite large though. Great Globoid shape and loves to share the lawn.
My red sunset maple is Real Red and the leaves stay on the tree for a long time with color. We don't have high winds here. the Autum Blaze drops fairly quickly. this is the Autum Blaze 8 years old.

harrdriv..i'd go with the autumn blaze or brandy wine. the autumn blaze red maple acer x fremanii rubrumx saccharinus "Jeffersred" was developed for it's color and fast grown...it is a proven "street" tree so it can take adverse conditions well and is one of the fastest growing. some of the new breedings hold their fall color better. the tree grows to approx 50 feet and 40 feet wide, hardy to zone 4 but does especially well in southern climates.

the brandywine maple is a new cultivar born approx 1994 ..it's a cross between october glory and authum flame. if you get a male it will not produce seedlings. it has a moderately columnar form and grows faster than any other maple varieties. it's a smaller tree, typically 25 feet tall and approx 12 feet wide. but here's the best...it has the longer lasting and more vibrant fall color than older varities. great for zones 4-8.

hope that helps:)

Nice selections of Maples. The Brandywine is also a really nice tree as mentioned by tobee43. Have you ever considered the good old underutilized Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)? It provides absolutely brilliant fall foliage coloration of very rich oranges and reds. They are often the subject of many New England post cards, desk top wallpapers, and calendars depicting magificent autumnal displays so reminiscent of cool fall days and a drive in the country.

I think surface roots are going to be a problem with just about any red maple you might choose. I like Equil's sugar maple idea, personally. But I'm biased because I have too many red maples!

I have a group of 12 Sugar Maples so when I'm old I can tap them here in montana. No other sugar bushes that I know in Montana. They are all Michigan origion. I collected seedling and now they are over 20' and 2" diameter. The color out here is not too red though, mostly yellow.

i also am a BIG fan of the sugar maple....however, it is just so slow growing!! my tree garden maple section consists of and i'll do it in english...)eskimo sunset, princeton gold ( another nice nice choice leaves stay yellow), norway varg, sugar, brandywine, swamp, paperbark ahd autumn blaze and i'm ashamed to say others. however, the sugar and the paperbarks are really slow slow growers.

i like the brandy wine because of it's natural shape and rapid grown..(as you get older and older the quicker the tree grows the better). both the brandy wine and the autumn blaze where solely chosen for their fall color.

princegold....grows quickly as well...however i think harrdriv wanted "red" maples??

joulz....they DON'T live in nj..where surface rooting is always a problem because of our soil. ( i don't know what you have but i have clay in sussex cty ) however, my maples don't give me that problem maybe because i give them the room and amend the soil around them before planting.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2006 7:55 AM

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I forgot to mention in my original post that I am also looking for a fast grower, and also something that doesn't grow too tall...40 ft. max. I guess I'm not looking so much for a shade tree as I am something ornamental. I'm leaning now towards the Brandywine or Autumn Blaze. Wondering if spring will be ok to plant or if I should wait until fall. Any more suggestions, or feedback from anyone who has the Brandywine or Autumn Blaze will be appreciated. Thanks.

I planted my Autum blaze in the spring. It has thrived ever since planting. I do use Milloraganite in the lawn around it and I'm sure that helps. Here is the winter shot of my autum blaze. Note the beautiful red branching and shape.

I bought an acer barbatum last year. While it had almost no growth last year, it has already grown over a foot this year.

Escambia,

If you get seed from it, I'd love some. Or, if you know of some wild-growing Acer barbatum. That's one I'd love to grow, but it is very hard to find in nurseries.

Scott

Mine are only about 3ft tall. I have never seen one growing in the wild. I bought mine from: www.mailordernatives.com

Escambiaguy,

Just went there and bought it and Acer sacharum subs leucoderme, two that I've been looking for. Thanks! I also bought a Stewartia malocodendron.

Scott

Here's a pic of the leaves on mine.

I really like that. The literature all says that both these southern sugar maples, A. leucoderme and A. barbatum, are considerably smaller trees than A. saccharum. As such, I'm surprised they are not more promoted for use in smaller yards--you know, the sugar maple for those without room for a sugar maple. I'm quite looking forward to watching these grow. Both are supposedly hardy here, but I've never seen either one even at an arboretum around here.

Scott

Just remember, it may not grow much this year and may look a little scorched, but next year it should start taking off nicely. If you could give it a little artificial shade it may help it get established quicker.

I went back to my childhood home 2 summers ago and went past the sugar bush (sugar maple forest) that I harvested sap every year of my childhood. Well someone bought the property and had the sugar bush cut down for the wood to be sold. I went into the few remaining and dug up 3 seedlings that are growing in my yard here in Montana. I cried when I sat there remembering 3 special trees that I climbed and hung out in as a child. I miss them. This is one of the seedling I brought back. the small maple on the right.

Steve, My feeling is one should not go back. After i sold my home and garden that I planted all the trees except the Elms, and lived there 50 years, I went back just once. The woman who bought it said she was buying because she liked the garden. I went back, 2 years after i sold it, and it was very sad to see how it had gone down hill. Weeds everywhere and only the strongest things still growing plus the volunteers. I have not gone back again.

Donna

I know one of my first gardens was a lodge pole pine area that I parked out and planted over 30 different trees. The one I loved the most was outside of the sliding glass door. It was a perfect umbrella shaped Styrax Japonica that was to be the shade tree over the deck I had planned. It was over 12' tall and beautiful in June with the hanging down flowers underneath. I lost the house when my wife left me for a new one. Well my wife sold the house and the first week the new people came in they chopped down the tree and poured concrete over the entire area to barbecue on.

It really makes me wonder what I'm going to do when I move. I've already decided the new homeowners for my home are going to tell me their intentions as I'll include the landscaping in the price of the home, or if I have the slightest incling that they might remove all these conifers, etc., I'm taking them with me. In the meantime, hopefully I'll have all of them propagated at least once.

Same here with the home I grew up in. I drive by it occasionally. My mom loaded the property with trees and shrubs and raised beds, etc. and while they kept some of the trees and shrubs, I'd estimate 1/2 have been removed. On an upnote though, they put in a terraced hillside that's fantastic and loaded to the hilt.

Dax

Only one foolproof solution: never move!
I'll leave here when they drag my cold, dried-up carcass . . . etc.!

Guy S.

so guy can I see Star hill Forest somewhere here at Daves? Do you have a diary or something.

Guy's "diary" is here:
http://www.starhillforest.com/