MEDIUM CANOPY TREE; NTCC’S RECOMMENDED TREE; FALL COLOR, FALL COLOR, FALL COLOR! OLD TIMEY TREE THAT NEEDS TO COME BACK.

Species: Acer saccharum

Plant Size, Type & Delivery Height: 1.5” diameter trunk ; Greater than 6 Feet Tall, Balled & Burlap

Ball & Burlap or Potted: Ball & Burlap

Mature Height: 60 feet

Growth Rate: Medium; 12-24”/year

Sunlight: Full Sun to Partial Shade

Drought & Heat Tolerant: Yes

Description:  The sugar maple is an under used tree throughout Nashville and it’s time to bring it back!  The sugar maple produces equally as stunning fall foliage as its cousin, the Red Maple, but with its fall foliage being a more yellow-orange glow rather than bright red.  The sugar maple likes to grow wide and usually keeps a uniform bulb like shape to it.  Its bark is rough and interesting looking.   It is a quintessential American tree, one of the first trees explorers reported back to Europe in the 1700s finding as being a most tree that emits a sugar substance that native Americans used to collect and turn into sugar and used for bartering. 

Growing Considerations:  This is a fairly tough tree.  It prefers a more acidic soil, which usually means a darker soil versus a more red soil, but it can do okay in a little more alkaline red soil conditions.  Sugar maples are not particularly drought tolerant, but should survive periods of no rain without issues.  It is a tree that does not like road salt very much, but that’s usually not an issue we have to worry about in Nashville, TN climate. If you are seeking total fall color interest, consider purchasing one sugar maple and one red maple and planting them side-by-side for an alternating fall color pattern  in your yard. 

Mono-Culture Risk: None; Not Frequently Planted

Invasive Risk: None