The Norway Maple Despite Its Reputation Does Have a Place in the Landscape

The Norway maple (Acer platanoides) as  a maple tree is somewhat a controversial tree for the home landscape.

The Norway maple is native to Europe (Norway and Sweden; Caucasus Mountains in Turkey and Iran) and was introduced to North America in the mid 1700s.  The Norway maple became popular as a tree planted along streets but eventually with the tree’s heavy seed production; this European native has naturalized in many northeastern forests.
　
Able to thrive under the shade canopy of native trees, the Norway maple grows fast and will crowd out other under story native plants with its intense shade and shallow roots. (The tree will likewise shade out a lawn---so buyers beware!) Now considered an invasive species, the tree is no longer sold in New Hampshire or Massachusetts and some garden centers will no longer sell the tree.

However, there are many red-leafed Norway maple cultivars, which can not be beat for the spring and summer leaf color they bring to the home landscape. Unlike the species, the Norway maple cultivars produce substantially fewer if any seeds and the seeds, which do drop, are less likely to germinate.
　
The Norway maple cultivars to consider for the home or commercial landscape are:

'Cleveland'
Has an upright oval habit with dense dark foliage

'Crimson King’ (mistakenly referred by customers as a red maple)
Leaves are a rich maroon fall color and is considered to be the most vigorous of the red-leafed varieties

'Emerald Queen'
Ascending branches with an upright oval shape and bright yellow fall color

'Schwedleri'
Purplish red leaves in the spring turning to green in later spring.

‘Variegatum’
Green leaves with white margins

　
Unlike the Red and Sugar maples, the Norway maple is not used for maple syrup production and the tree’s fall colors are bright yellows, which often times emerge after the other trees have already changed and dropped their leaves.