Very bright in spring, less bright in summer. Otherwise, yes, a Norway maple.

I don't understand the fascination with yellow leaves through the season. I see these yellow arborvitae and leyland cypress cultivars and think to myself, who wants their trees to look chlorotic all the time?

Those are not solid yellow, of course. And the now-prevalent 'Yellow Ribbon' arborvitae has the problem of turning quite bronze, even brownish in winter - right when the yellow might be most valued. Likewise the predominant yellow Leyland cypress cultivar, 'Castlewellan' can be quite homely, producing appalling scraggly yellowish foliage on many sites where I live. Less common yellow Leyland cypress cultivars are probably better - although they are still all Leylands!

I mean... I can understand blue foliage. I can understand red foliage. And I can understand yellow foliage in the fall. It's just that lately since it doesn't rain here anymore that everything pretty much has yellow/brown leaves.

bboy,

Thanks for the info. You seem to be quite helpful and very knowledgable. I have seen many of your posts help others out.

So what is your opinion on 'Norway' maples? I am really torn right now becuase I really like these trees. I like the columnar Norway maple, the Crimson King, and also this Princeton Gold.

It seems this board has a pretty negative view of any Norway maples. Nurseries seem to reccomend them without problems. So I'm real confused right now because I really like the trees, but don't want to have problems later.

I am just landscaping my 1/3 acre suburban lot in SLC Utah. So I am not too worried about the invasive nature of Norways. I don't think they would even survive around this dry climate without irrigation. And I wouldn't mind pulling a few sapplings each year in my yard.

My biggest concerns are:
The shallow roots messing up my lawn,
The shade being too dense drastically limiting any foliage (shrubs, flowers, ground cover, lawn) which I would like to plant under/close to these trees,
The moisture and nutrients being sucked up by the root system also contributing to limited foliage.

So I guess my question is...how valid are my concerns? Can you literally not grow grass/shrubs/flowers under a Cimson, Princeton, or Columnar Norway?

Norway maples do seem to be particularly valuable amenity trees in the intermountain region. I have been to a town in Idaho where it seemed nearly the whole community was shaded by Norway maples. However, I have also seen a wooded ravine in Seattle - which also has dry summers - infested with thousands of Norway maple seedlings. So, even though one might think the arid summers of your region could preclude this pestiferous tree from escaping irrigated areas...maybe inquire or look around locally and see if this species is going wild anywhere in your area.