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The field maple really deserves its title "Tree of the Year 2015". The native maple species inspires with a colorful array of convincing attributes. This profile explains in detail what these are and how you, as a home gardener with a family garden, can benefit from them.
The field maple bears yellow leaves in autumn
Botanical classification and characteristics
Where a field maple is in the limelight, there is a bustling hustle and bustle around the crown and foliage in summer. For insects, birds and other beneficial insects, the native deciduous tree is of inestimable value as a source of food and retreat. In the creative garden design, the popular maple species trumps in autumn with a furious color of the leaves. The following profile summarizes the whole list of convincing properties:
- Name: Field maple (Acer campestre)
- Popular name: Maßholder
- Special feature: Tree of the Year 2015
- Family: Soap tree family (Sapindaceae), formerly maple family (Aceraceae)
- Habit: Deciduous shrub or multi-stemmed, rarely single-stemmed tree
- Height: 3 to 15 meters, rarely up to 20 meters
- Growth width: 1 meter to 8 meters
- Annual growth: 30 to 50 centimeters
- Trunk diameter: up to 100 centimeters
- Root system: heart roots, suitable for any garden soil
- Leaves: 3 to 5 lobes, dark green with yellow-orange autumn color
- Flowers: yellowish-green panicles in May
- Fruits: winged split fruits with non-poisonous seeds
- Weather resistance: hardy to - 40 degrees Celsius and stable in wind
- Age: 150 to 200 years
The popular name Maßholder refers to its former use as a food tree. In years with bad harvests or wars, the rural population used the leaves of the field maple to eat them as a vegetable. In times of need, the leaves were also used as fodder for cattle.
Prime example of a hedge plant for the family garden
Since ecological aspects have become more important in the garden, the career of the field maple as a near-natural ornamental tree has picked up speed. Especially where children and pets are romping around in the garden, the domestic measure holder is at the top of the wish list for the privacy hedge. The following arguments qualify an Acer campestre as the perfect candidate for the family garden:
- It has been proven that seeds, leaves and shoots do not contain any toxic ingredients
- Rapid growth forms a dense, green wall within a short period of time
- Reliable wind protection thanks to a stable core root system
- Robust cutting tolerance for up to 3 prunings a year
- Magnificent autumn colors as a furious, decorative accent at the end of the season
- Very easy to care for thanks to modest site requirements
If the field maple finds enough space at a distance of 4 to 5 meters from its plant neighbors, it develops into a majestic house tree. For the small garden and the front yard, the spherical field maple "Globosum" is very popular, a refined, small variety of the pure kind with a growth height of 400 to 600 cm.
tips
Not only the field maple has made it far from the multi-faceted maple species. Other conspecifics were previously named Tree of the Year: Norway maple (Acer platanoides) ascended the throne in 1995, followed by sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) in 2009.