Red Maple Tree Flowers Are Starting to Emerge

The red maple, Acer rubrum, and its cultivars are one of the most popular trees for residential and commercial landscaping.

Allowed to grow in the woods, the red maple can become a large tree with a mature height of 50 ft. The red maple's  flowers, petioles, new growth, and seeds all are red to varying degrees and can be quite showy when first emerging in the spring. After the spring colors, the red maple's clean cut leaves emerge.

The red  maple tree however, is best known for its fall colors which range  from deep scarlets to reddish oranges.   

The fall color (generally a 1-2 week event) is the major reason homeowners select a red maple tree. However, the other remaining weeks of the year are equally as important when selecting this tree.

The young commercially cultivated red maple varieties  appear to maintain somewhat of a  manicured  look with either an oval or upright oval appearance. In the summer, red maple leaves are smaller than other maple varieties and contrast nicely with the silvery white trunk of a younger tree. By no means a small tree, recommendations would be to plant the tree a minimum of 30-40 away from any structures.

There are many cultivars of red maples, which are available at garden centers. Four varieties  I would recommend are:

'October Brilliance'
Slow to leaf out in spring, has a tight crown and deep red fall color
'October Glory'
Rounded oval crown with late developing intense red fall foliage. Though the fall color is brilliant, when other trees have already peaked in their fall coloration, the ‘October Glory," is often times much later in its coloration. 
'Red Sunset'
Heat tolerant, upright growth habit, drought tolerant, upright habit, orange-red fall color, and is also a rapid and vigorous grower.
'Autumn Blaze'
Rounded oval form with leaves that resemble silver maple. The fall color is orange red and persists longer than usual


An effective use of the red maple is to plant only one tree in the landscape as a  specimen tree.  Another use is to plant  a  mass planting  (three or more trees of the same variety) in the landscape.  Due to the different growth habits and the timing of fall coloration,  when doing a mass planting of red maples,  use the same variety for a much more effective look.