European Maple, Norway Maple 'Crimson King'

This is the most commonly planted cultivar of the species that has red-purple foliage the whole growing season. The foliage does lose som...Read Moree of the red color during the heat of summer, like most other red-leaved cultivars of woody plants. Like other red-foliaged woody plants it grows somewhat slower than the mother species and is probably about 1/3rd more expensive. Most neighborhoods have one of these across the Eastern and Midwestern USA, usually in the front yard right in front of the house. This cultivar probably can send out some seed to grow outside of cultivation, but not as badly as the green mother species that has become a major European invasive plant in the US. I agree with classic landscape architects that one should not use much red-foliaged woody plants, stay green. The hardiness of this cultivar only goes to USDA Zone 4a, not 2a like the mother species.

A cultivar of the common urban weed tree. The leaf color is funereal.

This tree becomes a pest through self-sowing. (The l...Read Moreeaf color isn't inherited.) The thirsty roots make it hard to grow other plants around it.

Planting is prohibited in Massachusetts and Connecticut. This tree invades and impoverishes natural habitat in eastern North America and the Pacific Northwest.

I have a crimson king, known by my family simply as "the crimson maple" growing in my front yard. It is a very large tree, at least 50 fe...Read Moreet tall and has been growing since my father was a child. I've always liked the tree. It looks beautiful with it's red-purple leaves against the red color of my house. Quite the symmetrical tree as well with a wonderful, full shape. I have not had any problems with the tree being invasive. While it does produce the typical winged seeds, they rarely every sprout in the lawn.

My town government continues to plant this everywhere, which I do not understand. It's invasive in New York, and frankly this cultivar is...Read More just hideously ugly, in my opinion. The last thing I want to see coming out of a long, cold Buffalo winter is long rows of dark, dark red trees down each side of the street. Please, my fellow Buffalonians, no more Crimson Kings!!