We normally think of beautiful spring flowers as crocus, tulips, daffodils, flowering crabs, magnolias, plums, cherries and redbuds. One of my spring favorites is often overlooked.
Red Maple trees (Acer rubrum) quietly put on a wonderful show of beautiful red flowers each spring, long before their leaves emerge. Preferring mildly to strongly acidic soil, Red Maple trees and their popular hybrids push out early spring flowers that cover the canopy of the trees in a beautiful mantle of lacy red.
The spring color show generally lasts for one to two weeks, and depending on the way spring weather breaks, can begin at the end of March or as late as mid-April. Take time this early spring to enjoy the show put on by rubrum maples. The lovely spring color is a good reminder of the fantastic fall colors of yellow, orange, red and magenta that Red Maples give us every autumn.
I have also blogged this article on the Northfield News website.
