Silver maple

Silver maple: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Fast-growing tree of 20–30 m with a broad, open crown and often drooping twigs.

Leaf

Opposite, 10–15 cm, with 5 very deeply cut, finely toothed lobes; underside silvery white. No milky sap.

Bark

Silver-grey, later in long, loose flakes.

Flower

Small red flowers, as early as February–March.

Fruit

Large winged fruits that ripen as early as late spring.

Difference from sycamore

Sycamore has a less deeply cut, coarsely toothed leaf.

Flowering: February–March · Harvest and fruit: February–March · Pruning: July–October

Identify by feature: Palmate leaves · Opposite leaves · White or silver underside · Winter flowers · Winged seeds

Looks like it, but isn’t

• Sycamore Acer pseudoplatanus: less deeply cut, coarsely toothed leaf. Difference from sycamore

Why grow it?

• Fast grower: a sizeable shade tree within a few years.
• Silvery-white leaves that sway and shimmer in the wind; yellow autumn colour.
• Tolerates wet, even temporarily flooded ground: a tree for beside a pond or stream.
• Flowers as early as February–March, an early source of pollen for bees.

Silver maple: where does it grow best?

• Full sun.
• Any soil, preferably moist to wet; tolerates temporary high water.
• Brittle branches and invasive roots: not near houses, driveways, drains or a patio.
• Allow for a crown 15 m wide: only for a park, a large garden or the bank of a pond.

Light

Full sun

Legal basis

Any garden soil

Moisture

Moist to wet

Size

25 m tall, 15 m wide

Hardiness

Throughout Belgium, no protection needed

Goes well with

• Swamp cypress: Also from eastern North America and also happy with wet feet: lovely together by a pond.
• Guelder rose: A native shrub for wet soil, with white flowers and red berries.
• Common dogwood: Red twigs in winter and a liking for moist soil: together a lovely waterside planting.

Good and bad companions

Goes well with

• Tolerate the shade under this tree: oregon grape, rhododendron, oleaster, japanese skimmia, garden privet, camellia, laurustinus, box-leaved honeysuckle

Silver maple: when and how to plant it?

1. Plant from November to March, bare-root or with a root ball.
2. Keep well away from buildings, pipes and paving.
3. Choose a spot somewhat sheltered from strong wind: the branches break easily.
4. Put a stake on the windward side and water generously after planting.

Care

Watering

Regularly in the first year; on dry soil, later in dry summers too.

Feeding

Not needed.

Crown

Have a large tree checked every few years for weak forks and dead branches.

Seedlings

The seeds germinate straight away in late spring: weed out seedlings while they are young.

Tip: Plant it where the wind can blow freely and you can see the silvery undersides of the leaves shimmer, for example on the far side of a pond – well away from the house and driveway.

Silver maple: when to prune it?

Pruning months: July–October.

When: In summer or early autumn (July–October).

How:

• Train young trees to a single trunk with strong, wide branch angles: narrow V-shaped forks split later on.
• Remove dead, split and crossing branches in good time.
• Prune a little regularly rather than a lot at once: large saw cuts heal poorly.

Caution: Don’t prune in late winter or spring: a maple bleeds heavily then.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Sowing

Sow fresh winged fruits as soon as they are ripe (May–June). They germinate quickly, but also dry out quickly and then no longer germinate.

Grafting

Forms with even more finely cut leaves, such as ‘Laciniatum Wieri’, are grafted by the nursery.

Silver maple: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy throughout Belgium: no protection needed.

• Fully hardy.
• Wet snow and ice can break branches: check the tree after a winter storm.

Diseases and pests

• Branch breakage: The wood is fairly brittle: in storms, wet snow or ice, branches break and narrow forks split. Shape the crown while young and have old trees inspected.
• Invasive roots: Shallow roots lift paving and seek out water in drains. Plant far enough from the house and paving.
• Aphids and honeydew: Sticky drops under the tree in summer. A nuisance but harmless.
• Verticillium wilt: Branches suddenly wilt in summer, with green streaks in the wood. Cut out affected branches and disinfect your saw.

Through the year

• February: Small red flowers on the bare branches.
• March: Flowering; last month for planting.
• May: The winged fruits are already ripe: sow them straight away or weed out the seedlings.
• July: Summer pruning: remove dead and weak branches, shape young trees.
• August: Summer pruning; water in dry spells.
• September: Pruning still possible.
• October: Yellow autumn colour; last month for pruning.
• November: Planting season starts.

What can you use it for?

Garden and landscape

Fast-growing park tree with silvery leaves that sway beautifully in the wind.

Food and drink

The spring sap is fairly sweet and makes syrup.

Caution: Brittle branches and invasive roots: don’t plant it close to houses or driveways.

Edible and useful

Sap (February–March)

The sap runs in late winter, when it thaws by day and freezes at night, usually from mid-February to mid-March, until the buds burst. Fresh, it is a faintly sweet water; boiled down, it makes syrup.

Storing

Fresh sap spoils quickly: chill it at once and drink or boil it within 2 to 3 days, or freeze it. Syrup keeps for a year in sterilised bottles; once opened, in the fridge.

Caution: Only tap your own healthy tree, with a trunk at least 30 cm across, with a single small hole per tree per year, and close the hole afterwards. Use clean equipment and only drink sap that is clear and smells fresh. Boiling down produces a lot of steam: do it outdoors or under a powerful extractor hood, and stay with it, as the syrup catches easily at the end. Never eat or drink anything you have not identified with certainty.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Tapping maple sap (Sap · 1–5 litres a day · 15 min + 1–3 weeks tapping)
• Maple syrup (Syrup · ± 200 ml from 10 litres of sap · 4–6 hrs)
• Apples stewed in maple sap (Compote · ± 4 portions · 45 min)
• Maple sap wine (Fermentation · ± 4 litres · 1 hr + 3 weeks fermenting + 2 months maturing)

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Did you know?

• Fast-growing tree from North America with rather brittle wood; turns yellow in autumn.
• The spring sap is fairly sweet and makes syrup; the name saccharinum means ‘sugary’. The true sugar maple is a different species, though (Acer saccharum).
• It is one of the first trees to flower, and its seeds ripen as early as May–June, much earlier than in most other maples.
• Its seeds, which ripen in late spring, germinate as soon as they fall, without needing a winter rest first.
• Saccharinum means ‘sugary’. Don’t confuse it with the sugar maple (Acer saccharum), the main source of maple syrup.