Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple)

Noted for its spectacular fall color, Acer saccharum (Sugar Maple) is a large, deciduous tree with a straight trunk, wide-spreading branches, and a dense, oval to rounded crown. Its foliage of five-lobed leaves, 3-6 in. (7-15 cm) ranges from medium to dark green in summer and changes to a brilliant palette of yellows, oranges, and reds in the fall. In spring, greenish-yellow flowers, borne in short, upright sprays, appear before the leaves and are followed by two-winged samara. Long-lived and slow-growing, Sugar Maple also provides some winter interest with its attractive, gray-brown bark, often ridged and furrowed with age. Excellent shade tree or specimen tree. The sugar maple leaf is the national symbol of Canada. Native Americans taught the early colonists how to tap these trees to produce maple syrup. About 40 gallons of sap are required to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup.

• Grows up to 40-80 ft. tall (12-24 m) and 30-60 ft. wide (9-18 m).
• A full sun or part shade lover, this plant is easily grown in fertile, moist, acid, well-drained soils. Tolerant of full shade. Sugar Maple grows on sands, loamy sands, sandy loams, loams, and silt loams, but it does best on well-drained loams. It does not grow well on dry, shallow soils and is rarely found in swamps. Sugar maple is susceptible to salt, excessive heat, and leaf scorch in drought.
• Low maintenance, this tree needs little pruning. If pruning is necessary, prune during the dormant season and avoid pruning in spring when the sap is running. Fertilize in spring before the leaves emerge.
• Roots are often shallow and reach the surface at an early age. Plant in an area where grass below it will not need to be mowed, so the mower will not damage the roots.
• May be affected by scale insects, aphids, and verticillium wilt.
• Propagate by seed and by grafting
• Native to Eastern North America.