Posted by
ILPARW (southeast Pennsylvania - Zone 6b) on Oct 19, 2018 4:27 PM concerning plant:
I first saw a young specimen of this species in Urbana on the campus of the University of Illinois in the 1970's while on an outing from my woody pIant class taught by the famous Dr Michael Dirr, which was his favorite tree in those days. I saw a few specimens of this species in the Chicago, Illinois area planted by plant enthusiasts and Morton Arboretum in the 1980's. My biggest customer has a really good, large specimen in her backyard in southeast Pennsylvania. Some of this tree native to central China is sold by some large, diverse nurseries, but it is an expensive woody plant to buy. It grows about 6 to 12 inches/year, and thus is slow growing, though a dear friend of mine has a maturing tree in her yard that is growing towards the faster rate. I've seen three saplings pop up in the backyard of my largest customer during last few years near the mother tree. Dr. Dirr complains that most of the seeds of this and other tri-foliate maples don't germinate and propagation can be difficult. This high quality ornamental tree is valued mostly for the beautiful, bronze, peeling bark. It gets a good orange or red fall color, but many years that color is not all at once and is relatively late in the season.
