Norway Maple

The Norway maple (Acer platanoides) is not one of Green-Wood's most prized trees. For one thing, it's an invasive species, and although my beloved weeping willow and Amur cork tree are as well, this spring I could see why the Norway maple is on the list. Before spring mowing started, the lawn within fifty feet of each Norway maple (and beyond) was covered with seedlings. Green-Wood would quickly become a Norway maple forest if the mowing operations were ever halted. With a canopy that creates heavy shade and roots that secrete chemicals preventing the growth of other plants, the Norway maple has the ability to completely dominate a forest. Mowing isn't going to stop, however, and as the cemetery isn't bordering any forests or uncultivated green spaces, it isn't posing a risk to our native flora in that way. This maple species, although it's able to survive in extreme conditions, does pose other problems for a garden environment: it has a structure that tends to break easily. Each time we have a big storm, there's surely a Norway maple down or damaged, and over the years, the ones that remain look gangly. But Norway maples do have their moments. Here, at the end of April, they were still leafing out.

They are also delightful in flower. Flowering happens before any leaves appear and before most any other species has leafed out, giving the landscape an early touch of color.

These groupings of greenish flowers dot the canopy. Above, flowers in full bloom; below, flowers not yet opened.

first to bloom

The autumn cherries are in bloom. I had seen one a couple weeks ago in premature bloom, but freezing temperatures put a halt to that. Now all of the autumn cherries are blooming (safely, I hope).

The silver and red maples beat them to it, though. Both of these species have been in bloom for at least ten days.

Red maples have different male and female trees while silver maples are monoecious. These silver maple flowers have long stamens topped with pollen-releasing anthers that bees are already busy exploring.

An early bloom that particularly caught my eye was the snowdrop. I had never seen these before (maybe because I'm from Virginia). I always thought of daffodils and crocuses when it came to spring flowers, but the snowdrop is such a little delight.

There are patches of these all over Green-Wood.

March storm

On Wednesday, crews were cleaning up some of the major damage from last weekend's storm. Here, a member of the grounds crew had just cut up a Norway maple that fell.

It had toppled the marble column of a family monument.

Damage can be seen all over.

With the losses from the snow storms earlier this year, Green-Wood has taken quite a hit in 2010.

The saddest for me was seeing this willow. I turned the corner and saw the roots up in the air.

What a big loss for this little pond! Green-Wood Cemetery is accepting donations for replanting and restoring the cemetery.

more storm damage

this time, not snow, but wind:
-a pear snapped in half-

-uprooted Norway maple-

Sango kaku

This Japanese maple pops out of the landscape when there's snow on the ground.

Acer palmatum 'Sango kaku' is sought after for its red bark. It's also known as coralbark maple.

The leaves are green in the summer with a touch of red,

and turn yellow in the fall.

Japanese Maple

The Japanese maples are having their fall moment right now. This tree had leaves of all colors from green to red.

This one near the catacombs had some nice reds and oranges.

More Japanese Maples

From afar, this Japanese maple is pretty attractive.
It has these lacy leaves and a bit of a drooping habit that, combined, make it look like a hazy mushroom.
But I thought there might be more to this tree, so I took a look underneath. I love these twisting branches.
There was another Japanese maple right across the road.
Not quite as exciting under the hood, but beautiful nonetheless.

Paperbark Maple

I wasn't looking to post about this tree again - I was actually just walking up the hill to get a look at the chapel in the morning sun.

When I turned to head back toward the road, I was struck by the paperbark maple. The sun shining through the bits of peeling bark made the tree appear to be on fire (click on the photo to see what I'm talking about).

Japanese Maples

There are hundreds of different cultivars of Acer palmatum. They are chosen for leaf shape and color among other charateristics. Here are leaves of three different trees.

A Japanese maple has leaves with either 5, 7, or 9 palmate (fanning out from one center point) lobes. This one has 7 lobes. The margins are toothed.

These are leaves of a Japanese red maple. You can see that the leaf margins are only slightly toothed (compared to the other two trees).

The leaves of this tree are lacier. The margins have deeper teeth and the lobes are divided almost all the way down to the petiole.

Paperbark Maple

Acer griseum, or paperbark maple, is native to central China. It was introduced to Europe in 1901.

It has compound leaves formed of three leaflets...

and cinnamon-colored bark that peels.