Read a commented red maple profile here with information on growth, leaves and flowers. Useful tips about planting and caring for Acer rubrum.
What is red maple and what properties does it have?
Red maple (Acer rubrum) is a deciduous tree from North America that grows up to 15 meters high. Its 5-lobed leaves have beautiful fall color, and its distinctive red flowers appear in spring. Red maple is suitable as a house tree, climate tree and for individual positions.
Profile
- Scientific name: Acer rubrum
- Family: Sapindaceae
- Origin: North America,
- Growth type: deciduous tree
- Growth height: 10 m to 15 m
- Growth habit: conical
- Leaf: 5-lobed
- Flower: round, inconspicuous
- Fruit: winged nut
- Roots: shallow roots
- Winter hardiness: hardy
- Use: individual position, house tree, climate tree
Growth
The central distribution area of red maple extends from eastern North America to Canada. In this huge native area, Acer rubrum shapes the landscape with its striking growth:
- Growth habit: single-stemmed tree with a conical, loose or highly oval crown, elegantly overhanging when old.
- Growth height: 10 m to 15 m
- Growth width: 7 m to 10 m
- Special feature: dense foliage of palmate leaves with spectacular autumn color.
- Bark: Twigs initially greenish-brown, later shiny reddish-brown.
- Trunk: initially smooth, gray-brown to light gray bark, later thick, longitudinally cracked bark.
- Growth speed: 15 cm to 40 cm annual growth.
Red maple forms a shallow root system. The majority of the roots rarely reach deeper than 25 cm to 30 cm. Lateral root strands are 10 m to 25 m long.
Leaf
The foliage of red maple consists of numerous, comparatively small leaves. A red maple leaf can be recognized by these characteristics:
- Leaf shape: petiolate, 5-lobed (3 large, forward-facing lobes, 2 weakly pronounced lobes below).
- Special feature: red petiole, hairy leaf veins on the underside, serrated leaf edge.
- Leaf size: Leaf blade diameter up to 10 cm.
- Leaf shoots: bronze-red
- Leaf color: dark green above, light green below, sometimes with a bluish tint.
- Leaf characteristics: bright yellow-orange-red autumn color.
- Arrangement: opposite
In autumn, red maple, with the active support of sugar maple (Acer saccharum), stages a colorful Indian summer in the mixed forests from North America to Canada. Since the remarkable tree has been planted more and more frequently in Central European gardens and parks, red maple has developed into an important player in Indian summer.
Video: In the frenzy of colors - Indian Summer invites you to dream
Bloom
A red maple tree unfolds its flowers before the leaves emerge. These flower characteristics reveal that you are looking at a red maple:
- Inflorescence: rounded to spherical, in dense clusters.
- Flower color: red
- Special feature: Stamens are noticeably far away.
- Flowering time: March and April
The picturesque flowers exude a sweet honey scent to attract wild bees, bumblebees and butterflies as pollinators. With a pollen value of 3 to 4, red maple serves as an important pasture for bees in spring and a protein-rich food source for building bee colonies. The nectar value is at a low level of 1 to 2.
Excursus
Red ball maple – red maple – differences
Red ball maple is a refined Norway maple with the botanical name Acer platanoides 'Crimson Sentry'. Before the leaves emerge, the yellow-green flowers appear in the spherical crown. The subsequent leaf shoots shine bright scarlet red. By autumn, the lobed, pointed leaves take on a purple-black-red color. With a growth height of 600 cm, red-leaf maple is half the size of red maple. In its pyramidal crown, the dark green leaves only boast a flaming red color in autumn.
Planting red maple
A red maple tree is ideally planted in autumn. This planting date is advantageous for the frost-hardy tree because it starts the next growing season with a real growth lead. You can also buy the best red maple young plants in tree nurseries and garden centers from mid-August. A second window of opportunity for planting and purchasing Acer rubrum opens in the spring as soon as the spade goes into the ground. You can read important tips about successful planting here:
Buy red maple
In the tree nursery you can buy red maple as an inexpensive Heister, the trunk of which does not yet have a crown and numerous side shoots. Solitary plants with wire bales are multi-stemmed, transplanted and cut several times, which is reflected in a higher purchase price. The luxury version is a red maple tree as a standard tree, with a beautiful crown already enthroned on its 2 m high trunk. The height of growth and, if applicable, the trunk diameter also influence the purchase price. The following table may serve as a guide for your purchase decision:
| Heister (height) | Price | Solitaire (height) | Price | High trunk (2 m) | Trunk circumference | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30-50 cm | 7 EUR | 125-150 cm | 330 EUR | 300 cm growth height | 8-10 cm | 786 EUR |
| 100-150 cm | 55 EUR | 200-250 cm | 440 EUR | 300 cm growth height | 10-12 cm | 1,150 EUR |
| 150-200 cm | 90 EUR | 300-400 cm | 1,200 EUR | 400 cm growth height | 16-18 cm | 1,695 EUR |
| 200-250 cm | 170 EUR | 500-600 cm | 1,980 EUR | 400 cm growth height | 20-25 cm | 1,870 EUR |
| 600-700 cm | 3,000 EUR | 500 cm growth height | 30-35 cm | 3,267 EUR |
Well-stocked tree nurseries offer Acer rubrum as a stock bush. The tree nursery master trained the tree according to its natural growth habit, either with a continuous leading shoot or with multiple stems. A red maple trunk bush transplanted three times with a trunk diameter of 16 cm and a wire ball costs from 660 euros.
Location and soil
Because red maple tolerates almost any location, it is very valued as a climate tree. The hardy tree can cope with shimmering heat, desert-like drought and even floods without any serious injuries. These are the optimal conditions for an Acer rubrum in top form:
- Sunny location (the more hours of sunshine per day, the more magnificent the flowering and autumn colors).
- Exclusion criteria: shade, location exposed to wind.
- Normal garden soil, preferably nutrient-rich, fresh, well-drained, slightly acidic to neutral.
- Exclusion criteria soil: permanent waterlogging, calcareous soil, alkaline pH value greater than 8.0.
Planting Tips
Drought stress and windthrow are the most common causes when a red maple tree fails to grow. It's worth taking a look at these planting tips:
- The planting pit has twice the volume of the root ball.
- The excavated soil is enriched with leaf compost or ericaceous soil in a ratio of 3:1.
- The planting depth in the bed corresponds to the planting depth in the tree nursery (note the dark soil mark on the trunk or central shoot).
- Remove the container or growing pot before planting, only open the bale cloth in the planting hole.
- After planting, drive in 3 wooden stakes as a tripod and tie them to the trunk with coconut rope.
- Form a casting ring out of soil and slurry in the root disk.
- Mulch the tree slice thinly (2-3 cm) with leaves or grass clippings.
Planting with a rhizome barrier is recommended. The epically long, flat roots can lift sidewalk slabs and become a tripping hazard on unpaved surfaces.
Care for red maple
Red maple is undemanding and easy to care for. Water and nutrient supply is easy to manage. Pruning can sometimes cause headaches because every maple tree is sensitive to cutting. You can find out how to properly care for Acer rubrum here:
Pouring
Freshly planted, a red maple needs to be watered regularly. In the following years there is only a need for watering when the soil has dried to a depth of more than 5 cm. Please use collected rainwater or stale tap water for watering.
Fertilize
Starting fertilization in spring is well received by red maple trees. Sprinkle compost and horn shavings on the root disk. As an exception, do not rake in the fertilizer (€52.00 at Amazon) to avoid damaging the shallow roots. Instead, simply shower the organic material with water for optimal nutrient absorption.
Cutting
Red maple responds to every pruning measure with strong sap flow. What makes matters worse is that maple trees from old wood grow out slowly or not at all. Against this background, pruning is only part of the care program if necessary. Important information about timing and cutting in brief:
- Prune red maple in autumn after leaves fall.
- Put on gloves to protect yourself from the sticky plant sap.
- Thin out dead wood, sick and unfavorably positioned branches on Astring.
- Cut back excessively long branches in the annual wood area.
Pruning is mandatory when transplanting red maple. The tree tolerates a change of location within the first five years. This applies provided that you shorten all shoots by a third to compensate for the loss of root mass.
Popular varieties
The original red maple species inspired competent breeders to create these beautiful varieties:
- October Glory: Premium variety with a broad, conical crown and spectacular, bright orange-scarlet autumn color.
- Brandywine: impresses with dark red flowers, light green leaves and wine-red coloring in autumn.
- Acer rubrum 'Red sunset': refined variety with a rounded-ovoid crown, grows 10-15 m high and 7-10 cm wide.
- Acer rubrum 'Armstrong': columnar, narrow-crowned red maple, leaves 5-lobed with bright orange-red autumn color.
- Acer rubrum 'Scanlon': Small tree with a slender growth habit and a conical crown, grows to 12 m high and 4 m wide.
FAQ
Which maple tree grows with red leaves in autumn?
Red maple (Acer rubrum) is one of the most beautiful maple species with red leaves in autumn. From late summer onwards, the dark green leaves change to a red-orange autumn color. Because not all of the leaves change color at the same time, the tree impresses with a breathtaking play of colors in iridescent nuances. The refined Norway maple (Acer platanoides 'Crimson Sentry') shines with red, later purple-black-red leaves from the time the leaves emerge in spring until the leaves fall in autumn.
Which maple tree is also called the Canadian maple tree?
In the nursery you can buy two types of maple called Canadian maple tree. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is the most famous red maple with this middle name. His leaf can be found again in the national flag of Canada. Red maple (Acer rubrum) is less commonly offered under this synonym. Therefore, when purchasing a Canadian maple tree, please pay attention to the botanical name. Sugar maple is a 600 cm tall large shrub, whereas red maple thrives as a 15 m tall tree.
Can you keep red maple in a pot?
Considering an expected growth height of 10 m to 15 m, keeping red maple in containers is difficult. With an annual growth of up to 40 cm, a plant pot has to grow with you, so to speak. Every three to five years, the tree should be repotted into a container twice as large. Over the years, this measure becomes a strenuous effort. Due to its sensitivity to cutting, it is a delicate undertaking to keep the maple tree at a height suitable for containers through annual pruning.
