The following quote is from another thread, but I wanted to put it here to keep it in the correct subject: "My main problem is Amur Maple seedlings covering a huge portion of my front yard. The lawn in that area is not very green or thick, and I wonder if the seedlings are robbing the lawn of nutrients. I tried some Weed-B-Gon tonight, which previously worked wonders for creeping charlie, but was not kind to the lawn. I need something that isn't going to totally wipe out the lawn." reply: "If you read the label on Weed B Gone and follow the directions you shouldn't have problems. Not sure why you feel the need to treat tree seedlings as they will disappear after a few mowings. I get a lot of sycamore seedlings every spring, I don't worry about them, and they disappear in due time. The only way they would be robbing the lawn of nutrients if there were thousands of them throughout the lawn." --- Well, it's been several mowings and the amur maple seedlings have not disappeared. They don't appear to be growing much in height, but they aren't going away. Other suggestions? I don't want to apply Weed-B-Gon to the entire lawn.

Thanks to everyone for the extremely helpful feedback! After some research, I think I am leaning towards the serviceberry. I'm not really familiar with that tree, but from looking at some pictures, I really like the fall color and white flowers. I do like birches, but I just wonder if it might be grow a little too big my yard? I have considered eastern redbud also, but I can't make up my mind on whether the pink flowers will contrast enough with the red brick. I absolutely love the amur maples color, but I'm not a big fan of the maple airplane seeds. Hopefully its not too late in the fall if I put one in soon and start growing! I already have my ooze tube sitting in my living room ready to water. Thanks again to everyone for your help! Scott

Glen- thank you for your information. I had heard varying reports about the growth rate of the amur maple- some sites said "moderate" others said slow. But from what I gathered, in comparison to the Korean it is more of a moderate grower. I will try a search on their scientific names (I guess that's what they are called??), most of the information I found was pretty basic and it seemed like each site just copied the same thing...word-for-word in some cases! I am also planning on going to the nursery today to inquire about actually purchasing one. The people there are pretty knowledgable so maybe they can give me some thought starters too. The only downside is that now I have to re-think where I am going to plant it. I may have to move it 6 feet or so in another direction because apparently there's some power lines or something in the area I wanted to plant it. Arrggg!! I've got this HUGE lawn with nothing in it, but unless I plant something close to the edge of my yard (bordering on the neighbors) or directly in front of our window, we run into the power lines. Thanks again! I'll post what I've decided on.

I used scissors and cut the black spots off, and threw them in the trash. No other spots have showed up since..