PlantFiles: Red Maple, Scarlet Maple
Acer rubrum

Often brittle and sometimes short-lived, and like most maples it throws hundreds of seedlings. That said, it's one of the more desirable maples for the mid-Atlantic. The fall color rivals that of the sugar maple, and the shade is not so dense. One of its more striking effects is that the twigs and buds turn red in the spring just before the tiny red flowers emerge.

It grows wild here in north Florida. It is th 2nd plant on my spring watch some times blooming as early as Jan. Also some of the only fall color we have.

This is a lovely large tree that grows well into zone3a. I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and its slowly becoming a more popular tree. Originally it was not planted here because of the alkaline soil that is normal of this region. Newer strains are more tolerant and will do well in areas that aren't extremely alkaline. There are also crosses of silver and red maple that don't mind the soil at all. This tree will grow to about 40 feet tall in my region.

Red Maples are only good when they have a central leader, so corrective pruning when young is a must. They often have shallow roots that are easily injured by mowers or just by walking on them. Keeping a large circle of mulch around the base is a good idea. Fall color varies with seedlings, some are bright red and some are muted yellow.

While this is definitely a lovely tree (I have several gorgeous specimens on my property here in VA), I do wish to inform those of you who keep any livestock - horses in particular - that the leaves, particularly when windfallen & wilted, can be fatally toxic.

This is probably the #1 most popular landscape tree! Where are all the comments and photographs???!!!

One of my all time favorites. It's a Florida native too for all you Florida residents... These are naturally occuring as far south as Fort Lauderdale. I can't say a single bad thing about them.

This year, the majority of my maples did not have that great of a color display however there were a couple that not only had excellent color, it lasted a month or longer. Some trees, the color starts out a salmon color or an orange and turned to a fire engine red. Some trees it started out orange and then to brown and fell off the tree.

Very resiliant here in FL and withstood the hurricanes like only a native would.

A Maple that is primarily seen in the Midwest and Northern areas, although it can survive in the South also.

The trunk is a paler gray than some of the other Maples and the leaves are mostly three lobed and whitish underneath.

The red blooms are a welcome sight in Early Spring, as it is one of the first trees to show signs of life. The flowers are at the twig ends in small, drooping, hanging clusters.

I have two huge Red Maples In my front yard that I have cared for since they were babies. Every year one the(shorter) maple has 1000's of seed in the spring. they are like insect wings or what we call hellicopters. Only once has the seeds germinated and sprouted up I have dug up some seedlings 10 to be exact and cared for them and now they sre in the ground. One problem I have noticed is that for some reason the leaves turn brown and new growth appears and I do not know why this happens to some but not all of the trees if there is an expert out there that can shed some light on this smalll problem iy would be helpful to my learning experince.