Although I consider Silver Maples amongst the loveliest of large maples, I do think they should be relegated to open fields and woodlands. They do have very aggressive, very shallow root systems that do take a toll on pavement and plumbing, and they do have a tendency to break apart.

Scott

I would agree that silver maples and towns do not mix well. Not only can they lift- damage concrete with their roots, they are notorious house crushers. So, in remark to the question, Silver maples are not bad in theory, but they can be planted in the wrong place.

Thanks Scott and Ikz5ia for your input. I guess I've been haviing a hard time bellieving anything our forestry dept says with its record on butchering trees. At least I know you two are not biased!

I just walked a few miles along the Little Miami River today, and in the bottomlands were several very large, very beautiful Silver Maples. A few were exhibiting a little cinnamon coloring in the bark. It is an excellent tree, but one we should go visit to enjoy. Better that than try to tame it in the city.

Scott

My neighbor has one in her front yard, a very large old tree, beautiful, but in a close residential setting, definitely a menace. Nothing subtle about it. By contrast, I'm under an ancient White Oak that is solid as a rock and good shelter for the maples.

The have their place for sure, planted next the to house or street though, comes with great respect for the risk they pose. The city of Kingston (where I live) planted every street with them ~100 years ago and many are now in serious decline. About 30% of the maples suffered serious or complete damage with our ice storm in 1997 (2" of ice on everything) and as always, every windstorm brings down large limbs or whole trees with lots of interior rot. In comparison, the Walnuts, Hickories, and Oaks of similar size suffer nearly no damage in the same conditions.

We have two very large silver maples (80' tall) at the front and back corners of our house....we make sure our insurance is up to date and on windy nights (last night gusts @ 55 mph) we consider sleeping in rooms with more 'house' between us and the trees. Wouldn't remove them though, they're too valuable to us and worth the risk.

Simon

Simon,
I have to respond. I used to live in Toronto - and the green canopy lining our street was Silver Maples. Oh they were so beautiful!. But it does seem to be a consensus - they grow too fast and are too soft.

When I lived in Missouri, we had horrible ice storms, and virtually all the trees suffered. And, my family living in Washington State - they recently had a wind storm, and it was the Douglas fir that fell and did damage. (course they don't have silver maples, they have big leaf maples -which are probably even softer).

Thanks for adding your experience. It makes it easier to accept our new street.