Hi:

About 3 years moved into a home on 1.4 acres, with a row of maples out front along the road (and probably too close to the power line). I'd say they're around 25 feet tall each. One if much darker green than the others. Some had root girdling; there are some issues. I don't know whether and what to keep. But I'd like to know just what they are. Fall color isn't real distinctive; not the strong reds of an October Glory, at least on 3 of them; more like 'lame sugar maple,' but the leaves don't look like that.

Anyway, thought I'd see what you guys thought of these.

Tree 1. Probably the healthiest, no evident defects, of the bunch.

Tree 2. Much darker green leaves than the others. I think a tornado a few years back tore this tree up very badly. Imagine a fairly short, fat trunk that looks like the bark's died & peeling off all over, that yet somehow put out lots of vigorous healthy branches & when leafed out look big and lush.

Tree 3. This tree wouldn't look so bad, except that maybe due to root girdling, one side of the trunk headed up for aways looks malformed/torn up. Tree's overall form is a bit less lush.

Tree 4. This tree had 2 leaders, and we're in an area that can get pretty high winds in the spring. At some point, the main trunk split several feet downward from where the 2 leaders came off. Yet both remained. I figured that the 2 splits healing would try to encapsulate and create a central 'hollow pole' effect eventually causing rain water & debris to gather and contribute to rot, so I cut one 'fork' off. Not the lop looks lean and sparse, of course.

Hope I got these things in order. I had figured them for red maples, since the space between pointed extensions looks sharp rather than curved, but a friend pointed out Norway maple might be possible, and I don't know much about those.

Thought I'd see what you guys thought they were. Thanks in advance!

Richard.