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Autumn Blaze Maple
If you have the
room to plant a large urban tree,
the Autumn Blaze Maple is definitely
one to consider. I spotted these trees
recently this fall and had to stop
and take a photo they were so impressive.
This cross of the rubrum (red) and
saccharinum (silver) maples seems
to combine the best qualities of those
two species. This tree possesses the
good qualities of brilliant orange-red
fall color, dense and healthy branching,
and vigor that is almost too much
for its own good. It has been so impressive
that the Autumn Blaze Maple was selected
Urban Tree of the Year in 2003 based
on responses to an annual survey in
the Arborist Magazine City Trees.
This is a patented
tree selected by the late Glenn Jeffers
of Jeffers Nursery in North Central
Ohio. It also has excellent disease
and insect resistance and a wide range
of adaptability. The tree can apparently
grow in the frigid hardiness zone
of 3 in the north to the warm humid
south of zone 8. It tolerates both
wet and dry conditions and grows to
60 ft. tall by 40 ft. wide. The leaves
are deeply lobed resembling the Silver
maple leaves that are rich and green
in color until their incredible show
in the fall. Limbs are ascending and
the tree grows to a tall oval form.
In the nursery,
it outgrows everything we plant. In
fact, under perfect soils and moisture,
it almost gets leggy so we actually
have to back off on supplemental watering
after establishment. But those conditions
are not common on most urban sites.
The only caution I have seen is that
sometimes the lateral limbs will try
to out-compete the leader, so careful
pruning of a portion of the lateral
limbs is sometimes beneficial to maintain
a strong leader.
This tree is a
definite improvement over its parents.
You may remember that Red Maples can
have uneven branching and periods
of looking almost stressed with heavy
seed and drooping leaves during the
summer. You may also recall that the
Silver Maple is known for its brittle
wood and tendency to break under stress.
The Autumn Blaze Maple improves on
both of those traits by having stronger
branch attachments, year-round appeal
and being an absolute “Blaze”
of color in the fall.
Put this potentially
big tree in large boulevards, wide
planting strips, or big yards to give
it its full glory!
Let me know your
thoughts and experience with this
species.
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