Sweet Gum

Handy Gardening Secrets trees  


Sweet Gum

The Sweetgum tree, Liquidambar styraciflua, is a rapid growing shade tree usually grown for its excellent fall color. It has an upright pyramidal growth habit in its youth and then becomes spreading, irregular and open as it ages. The star shaped lustrous dark green foliage turns a spectacular fall color, often a combination of green, yellow, orange, red and purple foliage, but sometimes solid crimson, burgundy or scarlet. The Sweetgum tree usually does not flower or fruit for the first 15 to 20 years. It prefers full sun and can grow to 60 feet high and 40 feet wide. The Sweetgum tree has landscape value as a shade, specimen or focal point tree. Sweetgum trees are an excellent lawn, park, or street tree. Birds like the seeds it produces. The bark has a corky appearance. It has spectacular colors, is fast growing, and has great shade. ... more information

 

Trident Maple The Trident Maple tree, Acer Buergerianum, is a deciduous, 20-30 foot-high by 25-foot-wide tree in the wild. The Trident Maple has beautiful 3-inch-wide, tri-lobed leaves, glossy green above and paler underneath, which turn various shades of red, orange, and yellow in autumn. Its flowers are bright yellow and showy in the spring. Trident Maple trees naturally exhibit low spreading growth and multiple stems but can be trained to a single trunk and pruned to make it branch higher, allowing passage below its broad, oval to rounded canopy. With its moderate growth rate, attractive orange-brown peeling bark, and easy maintenance, the Trident Maple is popular as a patio or street tree. The Trident Maple is a very popular species for bonsai, due to its small, three-lobed leaves, a readily-thickening trunk, and thick, gnarly roots which adapt well to root-over-rock style. It has enormous use for the home, commercial, or municipal property. Makes a nice small tree that can tolerate urban conditions, ie; confined root space, pollution, and heat and drought. Has done well in parking lot islands.

Sweet Gum