Acer platanoides Royal Red - Maple

The Acer platanoides 'Royal Red' is a beautiful variety of the Norway maple, distinctive because of its upright conical habit, moderate growth, and the sublime deep purple-red colour of its foliage. This cultivar, originally from America, does not exceed 15 m (49ft) in height at maturity, with a width of 10 m (33ft). It will look good as a free-standing specimen or in a group alongside trees and shrubs with contrasting foliage. The Norway maple is not demanding in terms of soil, as long as it is deep enough to accommodate its powerful root system.

Originally from the Caucasus, widespread in Europe from Scandinavia to Spain and eastwards to Russia, the Acer platanoides is a tall, fast-growing, deciduous tree often associated with oak, linden, and elm in upland forests. This light-loving species can be found in lowland or medium-altitude mountain regions, which provide it with the cool atmosphere and fertile, deep, moist to wet, calcareous soils it loves. It can live up to 200 years. The American cultivar 'Royal Red' has a more moderate growth rate than is typical of the species, as do the Dutch cultivars 'Crimson King' and 'Faassen's Black'. Its beautiful dense and conical crown spreads and rounds with age. At maturity, this single-stemmed tree will reach 10 to 15 m (33-49ft) in height and 8 to 10 m (26ft - 33ft) in spread. Its foliage is deciduous. The leaves are opposite, palmate, 10 to 20 cm (3.9 - 7.9 in) long, with 5 to 7 very pointed, toothed lobes. The leaves, carried on long petioles, are hairless and shiny. They are a very beautiful deep purple to dark brown in summer, becoming bright red in autumn. The inconspicuous, tiny lemon-yellow flowers, on erect corymbs, bloom in March before the leaves come out. They contrast wonderfully with the reddish leaf buds. In June, the flowers give way to winged fruits measuring 3 to 5 cm (1.2 - 2 in) long called samaras. The bark of this tree is brown and almost smooth with numerous shallow longitudinal cracks.

The Acer platanoides 'Royal Red' is easy-to-grow, very hardy and highly tolerant of urban environments. It looks stunning when planted as a specimen, in the middle of a park, for example. It can also be used as a street tree to line long avenues, or as a windbreak planted on the boundaries of a large garden. It can be combined in a group of trees with lighter, green or yellow, foliage, with which it will contrast beautifully. It can thrive in ordinary soil, as long as it is deep and well-drained.