Well. I planted a "Red Sunset" red maple. It was a coin toss between that and an "October Glory". I love it. I keep trying to find a place on a little city lot for the other one. You can't go wrong with either one.

The October Glory has more orange and green in the leaves. The Red Sunset starts out like that, but changes to all red. It is glorious for a few days and looks like it is on fire. I usually always have a storm at the peak and it blows all the leaves off.

Do yourself a favor , search out and buy a seedless maple...save yourself and neighbors an annual mess.

Are maples really messy as a rule? I've never had one in my yard, but I do have a couple varieties of oaks and a pecan tree. Are the seeds worse than acorns and pecans?

Nope.