Acer Rubrum

19 years ago

The lot surrounding my home is quite heavily wooded ...Norway Spruce, pines and black Walnut..the first two a product of a Roosevelt planting project. The trees are >100 feet. The understory is red maples.

I moved in last year and simply to create a back yard for the boys and for peace of mind I carved away some of the forest (with assitance). It looked like the home was set into the forest with a helcopter as there were many pines towering and swaying over the home.

They were able to preserve a few of the Acer rubrum..they stand about 40-50 feet..on the periphery of the yard.

Are these problem trees i the long run?

I'm not looking at a silver maple disaster ..am I? the trees, though not "specimen' quality really serve as primarily background/filler of the forest and provide some nice fall color.

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Comments (5)

quirkyquercus
19 years ago
No red maple don't generally have the problems of silver maple. They are much more desirable.
rcnaylor
19 years ago
Why did you buy a home that was integrated into woodlands if you don't feel safe surrounded by woods or need a play area?

Rather than cut down huge trees wouldn't it have been more prudent to buy a house that had the characteristics you wanted? I mean do people buy houses on golf courses and then build sand lots on the eighteenth green for their kids to play on or for more "security"? If they were in bad condition it might be one thing, but to buy a wooded lot so you can make a nice tree free yard to satisfy your tastes just seems like a waste to me.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you didn't have the RIGHT to do it. Its your property, you can cut down the whole forest if you own it. But, when you decide to move in a few years, it may be decades before your decisions regarding those 70 year old trees are undone, if ever.

Yeah, I'm a little defensive on behalf of trees. Probably why I hang around a tree forum.
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garp1
Original Author
19 years ago
It's a unique spot and the plan has been to preserve the majority of the woods but the landscape around the house was just to overgrown.

Yews and Euonymus gone wild and scrub trees and brush throughout. It was overgrown landscape up close, scrub trees throughtout. I removed all of these and then indeed there were some 60+ yo pines that were felled.. I didn't let them touch the Norway Spruce

I've planted around the house with paperbark maple, stewartia, JM's, Rhodies and dwarf conifers..no its not completely natural but IMO its an improvement. Around the perimeter of the yard there are some redbuds and dogwoods.

My hope is also to get more Tsuga growing among pines and Spruce. Thats also why I'm interested in the acer rubrum...more species.

Some may say leave it alone ..this is a forest. But its not really a "natural forest" when it was planted with one species of pine as part of the roosevelt project. I fear one day that something will wipe the pine out..although with the other species I think it will be fine.

My hope is to live here the next 40 years... I need the house to last that long (the cedar siding likely would not of..lol) but i also want a nice woodlands surrounding the home.

I appreciate your thoughts
spruceman
19 years ago
I would think your red maple will be a treasire in that mixture of trees. I love their color. A few months ago I posted "In Praise Of Red Maple." A search will lead you to that discussion.

-Spruce
katrina1
19 years ago
If you plan to live there for 40 years, why not find a featured spot to plant a white oak which is far enough away that the acorns it drops will not cause problems; but also in an area where you can, 20 years from now, look out a window and gaze on its wonderful form.