Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 8:52 pm
Silver maples are much maligned and not well understood. One of the most wonderful trees I knew when I was growing up in NJ was a magnificent silver maple that grew right next to the old stone church our family attended. I am now sure now just how large it was, but it was certainly over 5 feet in diameter, and it divided at 8 or 10 feet into a good number of ascending limbs--maybe as many as 6 or 7.
These trees are not as weak and subject to breakage as many of the ‘tree experts” out there will tell you.
Anyway, Silver maples grown in the open typically divide into multiple trunks, or as I prefer to think of them, ascending limbs, very low down. Often an ascending limb or second trunk starts out 3 feet from the ground. The trees sometimes rise ten feet or more before dividing, and some forest grown trees can maintain a single trunk somewhat higher if pressed on all sides. Bt this is not the usual growth habit of open grown trees.
My guess is that this and others like it, are single trees, but without actually digging the thing up, or taking a core right at the root collar, there is no way to know for sure. I have watched a number of these trees grow from seedlings/saplings. Some of them when they got larger could look like two or three fused trees to casual observers
Anyway, James, thanks for showing us this tree. Love it!
--Gaines
These trees are not as weak and subject to breakage as many of the ‘tree experts” out there will tell you.
Anyway, Silver maples grown in the open typically divide into multiple trunks, or as I prefer to think of them, ascending limbs, very low down. Often an ascending limb or second trunk starts out 3 feet from the ground. The trees sometimes rise ten feet or more before dividing, and some forest grown trees can maintain a single trunk somewhat higher if pressed on all sides. Bt this is not the usual growth habit of open grown trees.
My guess is that this and others like it, are single trees, but without actually digging the thing up, or taking a core right at the root collar, there is no way to know for sure. I have watched a number of these trees grow from seedlings/saplings. Some of them when they got larger could look like two or three fused trees to casual observers
Anyway, James, thanks for showing us this tree. Love it!
--Gaines