Maple trees have long been a popular tree for many families yards all across the world for a very long time. A question that is often asked is what makes one maple tree differently than the other maples trees? Size and strength are two of the biggest factors, as well as growth speed. 

Here I am going to go over some of the most popular maple trees and tell you a little bit about each one. Remember, there are tons of maple varieties that are from grafted trees as well as many variations of for example the red maple tree, there is the red maple tree itself and then tons of varieties of red maple trees that have been discovered or created by crossing two different trees. 

Red maple trees are one of the most used maple trees for yards all across the USA.   They are beautiful and quick growing, sometimes can have surface roots later in life and are a softwood maple.

Silver maple must be the most used maple tree in the USA or perhaps the most used shade tree period! Silver maple trees grow very fast and they are one of the easiest trees to grow, some consider them even hard to kill. When they are young under perfect conditions they have been known to grow 6ft + in one year! They are prone to having surface roots and usually the silver maple is weak wooded and will lose limbs easily in storms. A great shade tree but not one you want to have next to your house. 

Ahhh yes, the Sugar maple tree. Possibly the best maple tree of them all. These are slower growing at around 12” or so per year. These are hardwood maple trees and are much stronger than all the other softwood maple trees. The sugar maple is one tree known to produce maple syrup! They have a fantastic fall show of leaves for quite a few weeks in the fall. The leaves can be from red, to orange, to yellow all at the same time on the same tree! This tree seems to be forgotten by many but should not ever be overlooked. 

Japanese maple is a maple well known for being a smaller landscape tree. Typically found growing 25 to 30ft tall at maturity. There are a few kinds of Japanese maple trees some get red in the fall and some of them are red nearly the entire growing season. These are usually on the slower side of growing but work well in smaller places or smaller yards. 

The Norway maple tree is one that isn’t considered native to the USA but are still used from time to time. Many consider these messy trees like the silver maple. Norway maple are usually known for more of a yellow color in the fall. Norway maple trees can get very large and they are pretty shade trees. 

I hope this short list helps you some in determining the different in all the common maple trees and which one you may want to choose. If you are willing to be patient, the sugar maple is worth the wait, but if you need much faster shade you might need to choose one of the other maples. We sell a few different kind of maples grown from seed and we ship them right to your door! Make sure to check out our family farms awesome tree selection!