Despite their many problems, there's one wonderful thing about silver maples: their flowers are (if I'm not mistaken) the earliest of any native plant. Leaves turn yellow in fall. Darkone. ), the wind soon blows the pollen away, and within a day or so the male flowers start to turn brown and droop. One year old twigs are smooth, brown to reddish, especially right before spring bud break, turning silvery gray like the branches the second year. One day, when the weather is just perfect, all the flower buds on the Silver Maple will burst into bloom at once. Some consider the form to be poor but as a free … Sold in 2009, but the tree still remains. It is not tolerant of shade on poorer sites and is a pioneer dominant canopy species. It adapts well to the landscape and has long been used as a landscape shade tree. See the glossary for icon descriptions. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 8 m (26 ft) tall. See Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. It blooms as early as February in the South and as late as May in the northern extremes of its range, but here in the Finger Lakes area, it usually blooms in March. Masthead photo credit: F. Robert Wesley. Their branches are fringed in bright red and fuzzy cream right after the snow melts, before the ground is warm enough for the spring ephemerals to bloom and earlier than any other tree or shrub. For both, clusters have 3 to 6 flowers with 5 obscure sepals and no petals. Silver maples have some of the largest seeds of our native Maples. It grows to 18 metres (60 feet)—higher under favourable conditions—with a short, stout trunk and wide, irregular crown; slender drooping branches turn upward at the tips. Despite their many problems, there's one wonderful thing about silver maples: their flowers are (if I'm not mistaken) the earliest of any native plant. Silver maple grows rapidly and is short-lived (100-130 years) compared to sugar maple (250-400 years). ), please check the links and invasive species pages for additional resources. The tree was there when my parents moved into the house in 1954. The fruits eventually turn green, then brown, and become the typical two-winged seeds that we associate with maples, twirling like gyrocopters as they fall from the trees by the thousands in late May or early June; but by then the leaves have obscured the branches and we have many and showier spring flowers to distract our attention. Logo art of Solidago altissima by Nat Cleavitt, 2006. Early in spring, long before the trees begin to leaf out, even before the pussy willow's catkins, you may notice a haze of red among the branches of the Silver Maples. Early in spring, often in March, long before trees begin to leaf out, the swollen red buds of Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) begin to open, revealing the flowers within. Funding provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. The exact date that the Silver Maple blooms varies with weather and location. All website content © 2020 FLNPS unless otherwise noted. Silver maple leaf: 69 KB: Riley County, Kansas: Silver maple leaf lower surface: 65 KB: Clay County, Kansas: Silver maple bark: 152 KB: Clay County, Kansas: Silver maple flowers: 36 KB: Mitchell County, Kansas: Silver maple flowers: 35 KB: Mitchell County, Kansas: Silver maple fruit : 58 … Silver maple ( Acer saccharinum ). Your email address: (required) (The dry, winged fruits are called "keys" or "samaras" in botanical jargon; or, because they are double, "schizocarps" in even more incomprehensible jargon.) Pockets in the roots were hollowed out, holding water after a rain. Pick an image for a larger view. Map of native plant purveyors in the upper midwest. The developing seeds are also red at first, so the fruit clusters look much like the flowers and the female trees seem to bloom for weeks. Seedlings can easily be transplanted and it will re-sprout from a stump. Photos by Dave Spier except photo of male flowers by Dan Otis, Click Here to Join the FLNPS List-Serv (best to have or create Google account, but non-gmail IDs are OK) and LIKE us on Facebook  (must have FB account). The exact date that the Silver Maple blooms varies with weather and location. Older branches and the trunk develop coarse, scaly bark with age that can look quite shaggy and flake off. Note: All comments are moderated before posting to keep the riff-raff out. Silver maple (Acer saccharinum) is second only to skunk cabbage when it comes to early spring flowering. Most of the flowers on … In fact, all the Silver Maple flowers in the neighborhood will bloom together, within a few days of each other. The females have two bright red, arching styles. For info on subjects other than plant identification (gardening, invasive species control, edible plants, etc. Young bark is smooth and gray, becoming flaky with age. Thanks for your understanding. Male and female flowers can be on separate trees or on separate branches on the same tree or occasionally within the same flower cluster. The males have long, erect stamens. Sources for Native Plants in the Finger Lakes Region of NY. From a distance, the trees still seem to be in bloom; but if you look closely, you will see that you are now looking at clusters of fruit instead of flowers. Mowing can be bothersome. A common complaint is the roots that are just below the surface that come popping through the ground. Comment (max 1000 characters): Note: Comments or information about plants outside of Minnesota and neighboring states may not be posted because I’d like to keep the focus of this web site centered on Minnesota. It is a highly adaptable tree, although it has higher sunlight requirements than other maple trees. But here is the fascinating thing, those big surface roots posed as a little bird bath. Fruit is a pair of winged seeds (samara), 1½ to 2 1/3 inch long that matures and shed in May through early summer. Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, sun; low wet woodlands, floodplains, riverbanks. It blooms as early as February in the South and as late as May in the northern extremes of its range, but here in the Finger Lakes area, it usually blooms in March. Early in spring, long before the trees begin to leaf out, even before the pussy willow's catkins, you may notice a haze of red among the branches of the Silver Maples. Look closely and you will see that it is made up of hundreds and thousands of reddish buds swelling along the branches. 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