My wife and I have bought and planted many trees in our time, but we've come up against some confusion today that I need help with. We are shopping for a large shade tree for our niece and nephew's new home and they are keen on a maple with red coloring on the leaves. So, of course we have been looking at trees labelled Crimson King at various nurseries in Langley and environs. All are young, perhaps one to three inch caliper sizes. Some have the leaf colour that is deep red (maroon or purple) throughout, colouring that we have come to know as the classic Crimson King colour. Then we walk down the rows a bit, or go to a neighboring nursery and we see a leaf that varies from dark green on some parts of the tree to a medium crimson higher up and with some leaves green shading to crimson on various parts of the leaf. These too were labelled Crimson King, but I don't recall ever seeing one with so much green on the leaf before and with so much colur variation from one leaf to another as you move around the tree. To add to our confusion, while we were driving between nurseries and spotting large maples with red colouring on the roadside we came across a tree that looked very much like the Norway Maple in shape, but the colour varied a lot throughout the tree from deep green to individual leaves with some deep green and some deep crimson, to leaves higher up that were all medium red. We ask each other, what the heck was that one? So what's going on? Does the Crimson King actually vary so much in colour from one tree to another, or are there multiple cultivars or variants tailored by individual growers or am I just confused or what? If Crimson King is only deep crimson shading to purple throughout the leaf, what was that tree with all the varying shades from dark green through dark red? Are we being confused by "Deborah" cultivars? We did find some very young ones of these labelled as Deborah and they had already turned mostly green and didn't look a bit like the big ones with all the colour variation on the street, nor did they look like the confusing nursery stock labelled Crimson King but also with the wide colour variation. Is the Meyering cultivar much different and does it hold its red colour through the season? My books say no. We didn't see any labelled Meyering. Ultimately, what the kids were looking for was something that they were shown earlier this week that had a dark green colour on the upper surface of the leaf and a deep red on the underside. It was described to them as a type of Norway Maple. I wonder what that was?
(to those who would reply, I think you can assume that the Langley in question is Langley, British Columbia)
I remember Crimson King being offered here as grafted plants back in the 60's. At one time the misnamed Crimson Queen was also sold for a short while. How do I know? I had both of them at one time. The Crimson Queen being the slower grower of the two and does not make as large a tree. Ours sat in the ground for 7 years before it decided to grow and even then did not get much over 15' tall at maturity. It is hard to know what all has gone on without seeing these plants in person as I'd want to know were they grafted, came from cuttings or are they seedlings. The latter would make more sense why you are seeing such a variance of color in them as the seedlings I've seen in the past do have more green in the leaves than the grafted forms have, all things being equal. The problem is that not all things are equal in that depending on if these plants came from the same source or not we should not see that much color variance from a source that is grafting these plants. Even then we have to wonder if the nursery that propagated these plants used a select line of stock plants for their wood or used seedlings they raised to graft. I would assume seedlings are involved in some way but that is with my not being able to see the plants. If the Maples came from two or more sources then we may have seedlings from someone at play here and we may also have differences in culture, how these trees were grown, where they were grown and who grew them on to get them up to retail size. Some areas can field grow these plants and get better color that we can get here with our row plantings. It is not out of bounds for an Oregon grower to get richer color earlier in the year than ours will get here. A lot depends on cool temperatures as we can see with some Japanese Maples that come into California from Oregon that the colors of those Oregon grown plants will not be the same as the same plants are grown here. Happens a lot with nursery standards such as Bloodgood, Emperor1, Red Emperor, Burgundy Lace, Crimson Queen, Ever Red and what many are currently being sold as Tamukeyama. These plants will have richer color than ours have but after the second flush of new growth after the initial Spring leafing we will see these Oregon Maples start to produce the same colors as ours do here. It takes a while for them to adapt to here but they do sell well and people do expect those colors to remain but they turn the same colors as ours later, also, all things being equal. RonB will know these Maples better than I if there are name issues in that one variety may be being called Crimson King in order to sell it or there was a mix-up that there may be a Deboroah or two or perhaps another named cultivar mixed in with the Crimson King but he will have to at least see some photos of these trees, better for him to see the plants in person also. We can also mess up the color of these plants with soil pH factors and with our applications of fertilizer as some of the Crimson King I've seen in years past could indeed green out with too much or often times frequent applications of Nitrogen. I learned not to give these trees too much Nitrogen at all once they are in the ground. Some Nitrogen okay but we tend to give these trees too much all at once and in some areas much too often. Young plants can green out faster than an older plant in the ground usually will with too much or too often applications of Nitrogen. Jim
Regarding purple-red cultivars of Acer platanoides, the following notes were taken principally from Le Hardy de Beaulieu, An Illustrated Guide to Maples (2001). Most of the cultivars ultimately reach a height of 12-15 m, however ‘Crimson Sentry’ is a more compact tree, with an ultimate height of 6-8 m. There is no mention of a cultivar ‘Crimson Queen’ in any of the books available to me at this writing, and though I have seen it mentioned in the market, I am not aware of whether it is actually a registered cultivar. I do not have experience with these cultivars, but with some of the purple-red Acer palmatum cultivars, leaves lower on a tree heavily shaded by leaves higher on the tree may have some green hue in them. Also A. palmatum cultivars are often mislabeled, especially those distributed by wholesale nurseries. ‘Deborah’ – leaves bright purple-red when unfolding, later turning green, becoming orange in fall. ‘Crimson King’ – leaves dark purple-red or crimson-red in spring, turning darker until they drop; fall color usually absent. ‘Crimson Sentry’ – leaves smaller than those of the species, dark purple-red, hardly fading. ‘Faassen’s Black’ – purple-red young leaves, which are smaller than species, otherwise similar to ‘Crimson King’, but with slightly paler leaves. ‘Meyering’ – leaves bronze-red when unfolding, later turning olive-green, and hues between red and orange in fall. ‘Reichenbachii’ – overall appearance is very dark; leaf color ranges from very dark green to deep purple. ‘Royal Crimson’ – similar to ‘Crimson King’, but with superior red summer coloring. ‘Royal Red’ – leaves dark purple-red, usually not fading to a lighter color. ‘Schwedleri’ – purple-red young leaves, later turn to green, retaining however a purple hue; fall color more reddish.
Nurseries have been garbling cultivars for years. You could avoid this particular issue entirely and not plant a Norway maple at all, since - These are overplanted locally (and elsewhere), so that I would urge you to plant something less common for the sake of diversity - Our mild winters allow the overwintering of quantities of sucking pests. Norway maples here fill up with aphids in summer whose sticky secretions make the trees look oiled, coat surfaces beneath the trees - Norway maple is a shady, competitive tree that does not lend itself to long-term underplanting - Norway maple is a weed species in North America, reseeding abundantly; most tales of horror do come from the East. However, I have been to a wooded ravine in Seattle where millions of Norway maple seedlings are growing up from the forest floor If you want a large purple tree maybe try a purpleleaf beech instead, these can get sometimes woolly beech aphids but I don't think these produce the same level of drip. Beeches also do not lend themselves to underplanting as a rule but you can get a nice patch of hardy cyclamen going beneath them.
Thanks for your posts. I wanted to bring you up to date on my research. I have determined that the original tree my nephew saw and described to me was an Acer Psuedoplatanus Atropurpuream that was labelled as a Spaethii cultivar. Interesting tree, with solid green topside leaf surface and solid red bottomside leaf colour. In the end we did indeed plant an Acer Platanoides Crimson King, and everyone seems to be happy. It was helpful that we got it at a very good price. The problem now is that I also came home with a charlie brown version of Acer Platanoides Deborah that I just couldn't leave at the nursery and am having trouble finding the perfect spot for it. Oh, well, I'm sure we'll find a home for the poor thing. Its just that its got a root ball that is going to break my back, I'm sure of it! regards to all Ron
Use of 'Spaethii' for 'Atropurpureum' started in Dutch nurseries. It has also been called 'Purpureum Spaethii'.
Thanks Ron B. As a result of your posted references to the Norway Maple being a weed tree, I've done some more reading to understand the extent of this and am now a bit chastened at my actions in planting up to two of these things. However, I have no doubt that the one at my Nephew's house is unlikely to contribute to further spread as it is in an urban location where the opportunities to reseed via wind are very very low. On my property, however, there are some wooded areas nearby and the concern is greater. On the other hand, it goes against my grain to destroy a tree, especially one that I just paid some money for. Its a dilemma all right, but I think the tree will win out this time and my new lessons learned will apply in the future.
Purpleleaf sycamore maple also reseeds here, I know of a Vashon Island site - again a wooded ravine - where this seems to be starting to dominate the understorey. Presumably, in our dry summers - predicted to become much hotter in coming decades - such infestations will tend to be limited to similar locales, where drought effects are moderated. However, the one Seattle instance alone is SO severe that caution seems warranted. And possibly the cloudier springs that are said to be coming in combination with hotter summers will somehow confer an advantage to these foreign species that makes their naturalizing here worse than it is now. Jacobson, WILD PLANTS OF GREATER SEATTLE describes the existing local situation with Norway maple this way: "It is positively weedy in certain neighborhoods and parks, reproducing in dense shade, unlike BIGLEAF MAPLE. Ultimately, it may replace A. macrophyllum in Seattle." Of sycamore maple Jacobson says (in part) "It is similar in size to NORWAY MAPLE but less common wild in our area." http://www.arthurleej.com/wpogs.html In addition to beech, you can also get purpleleaf European birch, flowering crabapples ('Royalty' is quite dark in effect), plums, bird cherries (Prunus padus), and chokecherries (P. virginiana).
Since my last post, I have read in at least two sources, including Jacobson (2006), that A. platanoides ‘Crimson Sentry’ is really prone to mildew. I agree that the species should not be planted, but I have not read about the invasiveness of the cultivars. It seems good news that, according to Van Gelderen (1999) Maples for Gardens, fruits are not abundant for ‘Crimson King’ and ‘Schwedleri’, seedlings from which ‘Deborah’ was chosen. There are no seedlings about the 'Crimson King' specimens at UWBG Arboretum. Vigorously growing specimens of ‘Crimson King’ are also noted as prone to mildew so it seems that only light fertilization would be prudent.
'Crimson Sentry' is already mildewing heavily this year in Mt Vernon, WA. I drove by some hideous examples just today. I have never seen any memorable mildew on Crimson King. I have seen seedlings from purpleleaf Norway maples, I pulled one about 2 feet tall out of my front border in the past week or so.
