Ratings Tough sites: Appearance: Maintenance:

Reviewer: Darren DeStefano Washington, DC

Review:
Sugar Maples are absolutely stunning in the fall making them one of the most recognizable and beloved trees of citizens which translates to one of the most requested. When I managed "trees for Georgetown" the tree first on the request list was none other than sugar maple. Sugar maples are not the best urban trees and are intolerant of poor soils, drought, high temps, root disturbance, and general urban conditions. In Washington we planted several hundred sugar maples in 2002 and 2003, generally on residential streets that had well established existing sugar maple populations, their long term success was not stellar, I have seen several trees last for a couple of years without substantial growth and eventually succumb in the inevitable August drought. I would roughly estimate that we lost 1/3 of all the sugars we planted. There is a lot of variability between the successful specimens that were planted, some growing robustly while others still appear tender. I would not recommend attempting to plant sugar maple in new construction areas, they are best reserved for well established streets, parks, and specimen plantings. However, there is no substitute for those few weeks in the fall when the sugar maples are the talk of the town.

The Virginia Urban Street Tree Selector Virginia Tech Forestry Department