Description from Acer platanoides 'Globosum' | Landscape Plants | Oregon State University "Deciduous tree, 15 ft (4.5 m) high, with 18 ft (5.5 m) spread, very densely branched, compact, formal globe ("lollipop") habit. Often grafted on a standard. Leaves sharply and acutely dentate, red-brown in spring, developing to medium green, and yellow in fall." Other (French-speaking) websites describe the Autumn colour as "red". I'll go and take photos to see if it's yellow, red, or in-between on this specimen, in this location. "Jardin des Plantes", Orléans, October 3rd 2020 :
I spotted another, smaller one near a kids' playground. Although the colours are just beginning to change I think they'll be the same as the regular species (yellow) : (in the background, Liquidambar styraciflua, quite common here as street plantings)
Outside of the cultivar 'Globosum' some green Acer platanoides can have quite a bit of red some years. I have seen multiple examples of this in my region. And a friend who grew up in Illinois said a Norway maple and a sugar maple planted near one another on a site there traded off which presented as red during different years. In addition, there has been a picture of a bright red A. platanoides taken in Eastern Europe on the web in the past.
A young self-sown plant near where I live. It is fully green in the summer. Pics 1-2 on 31 August, pic 3 on 11 October, pic 4 on 20 October (all 2021). Nearly 7 weeks of pretty intense red.
