RED MAPLE CONFUSION

'CRIMSON KING' MAPLE LEAF...

...THE TREE, ABOUT 3/4 GROWN...

ALONG SECOND STREET IN BAYFIELD

'SCHWEDLER' MAPLE...

BRONZE-GREEN LEAVES, TURNING MORE GREENISH IN SUMMER

NATIVE RED MAPLE, ACER RUBRUM, FALL COLOR

Tuesday, 8:30 AM,  55 degrees F, wind NE, light.  The sky is clear.  The humidity is 89% and the barometer is rising, now at 29.77".  We did not get the predicted rain last night, which is good, since the ground is saturated.  It is a beautiful day and we will get caught up on a lot of yard and garden work.
   Whenever anyone asks me to get them a "red maple," I always have to ask them whether they mean the maple that is red all summer long, or the native maple that has green leaves and turns red in the fall. That is the trouble with common names; they can mean different things to different folks.
   The trees pictured are the 'Shwedler' maple, a selection of the European Acer platanoides, that has bronze green leaves in spring that become more greenish during the summer and turn brown in the fall.  It is a cultivar that has been around a long time.  The 'Crimson King' is a further selection of the 'Schwedler' that has deep crimson-purple leaves all spring and summer.  It was introduced before WWII and was very popular during the '50's and '60's.  Bayfield has a lot of both varieties.  They have their place, particularly in a town that has a lot of mid-Twentieth Century houses.  Both are pretty good street trees, but they produce very heavy shade and it is difficult to grow grass or much of anything else beneath them.  They make a rather pronounced statement in the landscape, are somewhat garish and by and large I don't care for them, but a lot of people do.  Both are superior to the straight European species, which I see no reason at all to plant.
   The whole "red maple" question is further complicated by all the newer hybrids between red and silver maple, such as 'Autumn Blaze.'  More about them at another time.