Ash maple ∗ The 10 best planting and care tips

the essentials in brief

• ash maple is a 5 to 15 m tall large shrub or tree with attractive flowers, colorful variegated pinnate leaves and an expansive, bushy silhouette.
• Plant ash maple too root barrier in a sunny to partially shaded spot in normal to slightly acidic garden soil.
• Care tips: water regularly, do not fertilize, if necessary cut in winter.
• Garden-suitable, slow-growing varieties are: Flamingo (white variegated ash maple), Aureo-Variegatum (yellow variegated ash maple), Variegatum (silver ash maple), Acer negundo Elegans and Odessanum (yellow ash maple).

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Acer negundo
• Occurrence: Central Europe, North America
• Growth type: large shrub, tree
• Growth height: 5 to 15 m
• Growth form: multi-stemmed, sprawling
• Wood: color inclusions, fine-pored, elastic
• Flowers: hanging, racemose
• Leaf: imparipinnate
• fruit: winged
• Roots: Deep-rooted with runners
• Hardiness: hardy
• Use: house tree, privacy screen, hedge

wood

Ash maple wood surprises with beautiful colors, is light and excellent to work with. The wood is highly valued in high-quality furniture construction and elegant interior design. Cabinet makers, turners, sculptors and carvers rave about the multifaceted processing options. Expensive furniture, valuable inlays, exquisite parquet floors, artistic table tops and sonorous Musical instruments gain in decorative expressiveness through the fine wood with the remarkable Grain:

• Characteristics: fine-pored, elastic, pressure and tensile strength, low shrinkage
• Sapwood: yellow, white and green color inclusions
• Heartwood: veined yellowish-brown to reddish-pink

blossom

Ash maple is one of the dioecious, separate sex plants. The trees bear female or male flowers. Before the leaves sprout, the hanging inflorescences appear in March. The following table summarizes how to distinguish between male and female flowers by their visual characteristics:

Admire the flamboyant blooms that adorn an ash maple tree in early spring in the video below:

Ash maple in its pompous splendor of flowers

Sheet

The ash maple's most beautiful decoration is its deciduous, opposite, pinnate leaves on elegantly overhanging branches. You can spot the blade of an Acer negundo by the following characteristics:

• Foliage size: 15 to 20 cm long, 10 to 15 cm wide
• Leaf shape: imparipinnate with 3 to 5 serrated or lobed leaflets
• Pinnae: 5 to 10 cm long, sparsely hairy, oval, pointed, light green, lighter underneath
• Seat of feathers: lower pair of feathers on a 1 to 2 cm long stalk, upper pair of feathers without a stalk

digression

Heroically stable in floods

Plant ash maple - tips

Ash maple makes no secret of its urge to conquer. From a deep taproot, epic long lateral roots sprout in all directions. Hardly planted, the majestic tree puts in the botanical turbo with a growth rate of 100 to 150 centimeters per year. More suitable for the hobby garden are slow-growing varieties that remain at a height of 500 to 700 centimeters and grow relatively slowly at 15 to 30 centimeters a year. However, you should not do without planting with a root barrier. How to plant Acer negundo correctly:

Location

Ash maple proves its reputation as a valued pioneer tree with its good-natured adaptability. The perfect location should be like this:

• Sunny to partially shaded position
• Ideally sheltered from the wind
• Prefers fresh, moist, nutrient-rich soil with a slightly acidic pH of 5 to 6

With a calcareous, moist or dry-sandy and lean garden floor ash maple can arrange itself.

planting time

The best time to plant ash maple from the nursery is in autumn. The time window remains open until next spring to plant the wood in the container, with wire balls or as root material.

soil preparation

Your new house tree will thank you for careful soil preparation with rapid rooting and even growth. Furthermore, the probability of failure drops to a minimum if you take these precautions before planting the site:

• garden soil two spade Dig deep, remove old roots, stones and weeds
• Sandy-lean soil improve with compost soil (3 to 5 l/m²)
• loosen up wet, heavy soil with sand, lava granules,(€14.00 at Amazon*)expanded clay(€19.00 at Amazon*) or lava mulch

Plant

In order to plant a 100 to 150 cm tall ash maple tree from the nursery, please provide the following tools ready: spade, folding ladder, sledgehammer, 3 sharpened wooden posts, 2.50 m long, coconut rope and Gloves. How to plant correctly:

1. Dig a planting pit with twice the volume of the root ball
2. Lining the pit with a rhizome lock
3. Excavated mix with horn shavings(€9.00 at Amazon*) and compost
4. Pull off the container, leave the bale cloth on the bale
5. Place wood in the middle of the planting hole (open the bale cloth)
6. Plant ash maple straight and non-tilting in the enriched soil

Drive the support posts 50 centimeters deep into the ground at a distance of 30 centimeters from the trunk or central shoot before you bury them. Connect the post and wood with the coconut rope to protect against windthrow.

Ash maple - care tips

In the simple care program, two measures have priority. If the wood becomes too sprawling, pruning will solve the problem. Regular watering protects ash maple from drought stress when young. The initial fertilization recommended here as part of the planting is not followed by any further nutrient supply. How to care for ash maple in an exemplary manner:

To cut

A strong sap flow characterizes the growth of ash maple and its varieties almost all year round. In late autumn and early winter, the sap pressure decreases somewhat. For the traditional February deadline for pruning trees and shrubs the wood is already full of juice. The timing is just as important as the incision. You should pay attention to this when pruning Acer negundo:

• Rule of thumb: Cut ash maple only when necessary
• Cutting date: early December to mid/late January
• Preparation: sharpen and disinfect cutting tools, protect skin and clothing from the sticky juice
• Pruning: extra long branches derive and don't just cut, avoid cuts in the old wood, deadwood on a string thin out

Pour

In the first six to eight weeks after planting, please visit the ash maple every two days with a watering can. Until the roots establish themselves in the soil, there is a risk of drought stress in the sunshine. Water liberally with rainwater or stale tap water. In the first few years there is always a need for watering when the surface of the soil feels dry.

hibernate

After a period of about five years, an ash maple is reliably hardy down to - 30° Celsius. We recommend light winter protection along the way. Cover the root disc with leaves and brushwood. A breathable hood protects in the year of planting garden fleece the young shoots from frost damage.

Popular Varieties

Picturesque varieties can be discovered in the tree nursery with variegated foliage and a plant height of 500 to 700 centimeters suitable for gardens:

• Ash maple 'Flamingo': Pinnate leaves marbled white-green, flamingo-pink shoots on the red petiole.
• Variegated ash maple: Synonymous with premium variety 'Flamingo'.
• Yellow variegated ash maple 'Aureo-Variegatum': Leaves in a sunny location irregularly variegated with bright golden yellow.
• Silver Ash Maple 'Variegatum': historic variety, leaves have silvery-white margins, green-white marbled.
• Acer negundo 'Elegans': dark green pinnate leaves, margined and mottled with light green.
• Yellow Ash Maple 'Odessanum': golden-yellow pinnate leaves, tinged with light green in summer.

FAQ

How to get rid of an ash maple?

With a trunk diameter of up to 30 cm, you can fell an ash maple and dig up the roots. Ringing has traditionally proven itself to eliminate invasive shrubs. At the bottom of the trunk, remove a four to six inch strip of bark and cambium wood. The flow of sap is interrupted and the tree dies within 12 to 36 months.

Is pruning beneficial for branching?

In fact, cutting back on young wood encourages branching and promotes dense, bushy growth. The best time is on a frost-free day in December or January. Use sanitized, sharp bypass scissors. Place the scissor blades a few millimeters above a bud. A slight tilt of the pruning shears allows the tree sap to drain better. Please remember to wear gloves and appropriate clothing to protect yourself from the sticky maple sap.

At what distance from the house should you plant ash maple 'Flamingo'?

In view of a growth height of up to 7 meters and a width of up to 6 meters, we recommend a planting distance of at least 3 meters. If the distance to the house is shorter, you can keep the large shrub smaller by regularly pruning it back. It also makes sense to plant with a root barrier.

At what temperature does young ash maple need winter protection?

In the year of planting and in the first two to three years of standing, we recommend winter protection for young ash maples at temperatures from – 5° Celsius. A layer of leaves on the root disk and a garden fleece as a hood are completely sufficient. Please also keep the protective fleece to hand in spring when the weather forecast announces nightly ground frosts, which can be fatal to the newly planted buds.

The leaves are curling on the recently planted 'Flamingo' ash maple. What to do?

The tree suffers from drought stress. Water the shrub deeply without causing waterlogging. In the future, keep the soil constantly slightly moist. Use a thumb test several times a week to check if the soil feels dry. Experience has shown that an ash maple is so deeply rooted after two years that a normal amount of rain covers the water requirement.