I’ve had a lot of fun working with red maples, also known as swamp maples, over the past few years. The basic training routine is the same as it is for other deciduous species – prune and reduce foliage in the middle of the growing season and then prune again fall. Depending on how vigorously […]
Red Maple
Red maple forest fall cleanup
The most consistent fall color in my garden each year can be found on a red maple forest planting that was started by a friend’s father back in the early 80s. Once most of the leaves turn color, I remove them all and do fall pruning. Here’s the tree before I removed the leaves. Red […]
Removing large leaves on a red maple forest
My red maple forest has filled in nicely this spring – so much so that some of the interior leaves are already turning yellow. Acer rubrum, Red maple Weak interior leaf To let more light into the tree’s interior, I shortened elongating shoots and removed the largest leaves. Elongating shoot with red, bronze, and pale […]
Three reasons to start growing red maples
I’ve only recently started caring for a red maple, Acer rubrum, but I’ve already been impressed by its charms. If you’re looking for a U.S. native deciduous species to experiment with, the red maple is a good place to start. 1. Fall color Red maples – aka swamp maples – can produce spectacular fall color. […]