Hello all, a newbie here! hoping to be enlightened on just what kind of tree we have growing here. A few years ago we planted a 'Flamingo Maple' it did fine for about 3 years, it then became scraggly with fewer & fewer leaves & less color to the leaves. We left it for another year then decided it wasn't going to survive, instead of removing it totally we decided to cut it down & left about 2.5 feet of the original trunk. We left it for 2 years & last year we were going to remove it but on either side of the trunk there were 2 new shoots of something growing, so we left it to see what would transpire. Last year those 2 shoots went rampant..they grew & grew & as of this year this new tree? is about 8 feet tall. Last years wood is now a light brown, this years branches are a smooth very pale silvery green. The leaves are 5 to a bracht on red stems. As the new growth appears the leaves are more red than green, quickly changing to green. The leaves are elongated with 2 to 3 notches on each. This year the tree produced (I will call them wing nuts) although I am sure that is not the proper name. If anyone has any idea of just what has happened here we would be very pleased to know. We cannot think of this being anything other than some sort of morph from the original Flamingo we planted, as we have never planted anything else near this. We would appreciate any information or ideas about what has happened with this tree. Many Thanks.... from Beautiful Northwest B.C.
Hello, Your "Flamingo Maple" was Acer negundo 'Flamingo', a pretty variegated cultivar of A. negundo, the so called common Box Elder. There are many other cultivars of interest. They are propagated by grafting on root stock of the species, typically, although there are other variations possible. But the species A. negundo ssp. negundo is very easy to propagate by seed, indeed quite weedy. So that is almost certainly what you've got. It does indeed have pretty red leaves when young, may have red petioles, and new bark growth can have a bluish-silver sheen. It will make a large tree, to 20/25 meters in favourable culture conditions, rather larger than "flamingo!" The word for maple fruit is samaras. But my wife insists on "helicopters" and I've learned to live with it. :) -E
