Acer campestre Green Column - Field Maple

Acer campestre 'Green Column' is a variety of field maple highly appreciated for its small size and slender, columnar habit! It forms a deciduous tree up to 8m (26ft) in height with a tall and slender trunk that develops a closed crown, adorned with dark green foliage, beautifully lobed and very dense, turning yellow-orange in autumn. With its elegant silhouette and compact growth, it is an ideal selection for solitary planting to enhance a small short grass meadow or for lining to accentuate a narrow pathway. In spring, it bears fairly bright yellow-green flower umbels that attract pollinators while its young leaves take on a slight pink hue. Hardy and native to our regions, it is a low-maintenance and undemanding tree that simply needs to be planted in sun or partial shade, in rich, moist, and well-drained soil. Extremely hot exposures and excessively dry climates should be avoided unless the tree can benefit from some shade and water. Once established, it is resistant to sea spray, pollution, heat, and temporary drought.

Native to Europe, Asia Minor, and North Africa, Acer campestre is more of a forest tree than a field tree. The 'Green Column' field maple is a horticultural variety of this species and is distinguished by its elegant and slender columnar habit. Slow-growing, it will average around 8m (26ft) in height and form a 4m (13ft) wide crown in our gardens, if left unpruned. Its habit is columnar, widening with age to become almost conical. Over time, this species, which can live well over a century, can develop multiple tangled trunks, each carrying a dense canopy. The slightly satin dark green foliage of this deciduous maple consists of larger leaves than those of the species (5 to 10cm (2 to 4in) long), showing 3 to 5 lobes with pink edges in its youth. The milky sap that oozes from the leaves is often observed in this species. Autumn and the first cold weather colour the foliage in shades of golden yellow, copper, or bronze. The very discreet flowering takes place in spring, at the same time as the leaves emerge. The small flowers are yellow-green and grouped in corymbs. They are followed by winged fruits, often reddish, called samaras. The wings of this fruit are opposite and perfectly aligned.

The field maple forms the hardest wood that can be found in this genus. Its bark is pale grey and fissured. The branches of young specimens often show a corky, ribbed, insulating, and channelled bark.  Note that when it grows in contact with the Montpellier maple (Acer monspessulanum), the two species readily hybridise.

The field maple is a part of our landscapes, which may explain why we eventually stop looking at it... until autumn, when it sets the countryside ablaze. Truly easy to grow, it thrives in any ordinary soil, even limestone, as long as it is deep enough. It will be enhanced in the centre of a flower shrub bed that will provide the colour it lacks from spring to summer. It can also be associated, in a hedge, with deciduous euonymus, a Carpinus 'Orange Retz', Cotinus, hawthorns, ornamental apple trees, or its cousin, the Montpellier maple. Plant small shade-loving perennials (lamium, Epimedium, Geranium macrorrhizum, Ophipogon planiscapus 'Niger') at its base to enjoy its beautiful bark and flamboyant autumn colors. The 'Green Column' variety is particularly decorative in a container on a terrace or as a solitary or lined tree, even in smaller spaces.