All About Maples

But trying to identify a maple by its leaves might leave you a bit surprised. Most people think of maple leaves as looking like that on the Canadian flag, when in fact there are many that look like anything but, says Randall Hitchin, plant collections manager from the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. The leaves of Acer japonicum (figure A) and butterfly maple (figure B) are a departure from the "typical" maple leaf. And even some that have the familiar leaf shape have other interesting attributes. "Although the leaf of vine maple (Acer circinatum) (figure C) looks very much like the one on the Canadian flag, it breaks the rules in its form," says Hitchin. "It's really more of a shrub as opposed to a tree. It gets 10 to 15 feet high and has many stems that emerge from the ground, so it's a really useful landscape form."

While adult maples don't require heavy maintenance, structural pruning of a young tree can make all the difference in developing a strong scaffolding, or branching formation. The two best times of the year to prune are when the plant is dormant. The first, and best, time occurs in late winter just before the sap begins to rise. When the buds have begun to expand, it's too late. The second best time is during late summer when the terminal buds have hardened off and the tree has stopped growing for the season.