If you want to narrow it down, pay a visit to local nurseries or tree farms and see what cultivars are available. That will narrow it down real fast. I would be very surprised if you found shantungs in tenn. You may find trident maples though.
The real intense organges are going to come from hickories, sugar maple, sassafras and some sometimes sweetgum. You can get some intense red from select red maple cultivars such as Red Sunset. Pepperridge is another tree known to have very bright red foliage. Full moon maple is a smaller one you would probably like.
A rule of thumb that I use is if you can't make up your mind, just plant them all.

You want a Orange Sugar Maple, got it. Acer saccharum 'Commemoration'. Ours was a gorgeous pumpkin orange to red-orange last fall in a poor color year. We LOVE ours. Check out the link for some pictures.

Arktrees

Here is a link that might be useful: Commemoration

An amur maple/tartarian maple might be a nice fit. They stay about 15-20', and about as wide. They turn a firey orange-red in the fall. They can be very graceful and beautiful. Their shape makes them a nice front-yard tree.

That being said, they often require significant pruning to keep them in "tree form" - especially the amurs. To me, it's not that big a deal though. You can usually train them to 3 branches and keep things nice.

Most important of all, make a decision :). IT's been two years, think about all of the growth a tree could have put on in those two years! No matter what you choose, it will probably be quite beautiful.

Nothing wrong with planting two or three then culling the herd and only keeping the one which makes you happiest in three years.

Nyssa Sylvatica is my current fascination with great fall color. Think they trend more red than you're looking for, maybe.

connietn, is your planting spot very wet, dry, right next to a road which gets tons of salt? Perhaps we can nudge you away from one and towards another couple. Lets get something in the ground this year though!

I searched for a while until I finally purchased Acer rubrum Embers. See the photos from Spring Grove Cemetery on the net.

Dax

Thanks so much for all the feedback and cultivar names to look up! :) I will look at them all.

Toronado, the site is in the front yard. I'd say it's average moisture and soil, but may tend towards dry-ish in summer as it's in full sun. Our house faces south. No salt on roads to contend with.

I've been looking at these and they are all great suggestions! I forgot about Amur Maple! I do like the branching and think that would be a great specimen tree, and I enjoy shaping and pruning.

Commemoration is EXACTLY the color I had in mind! Let me ask you, do Sugar Maples seed like Silver Maples do? We just rid ourselves of a Silver Maple that was dropping limbs like it was going out of style, and the seedlings were unbelievable.

Amur maple is an invasive species. Not recommended for planting.

Sugar Maple is superior to Silver Maple unless you are only interested in speed or the peeling bark look. Silver Maple usually grows faster.

Sugar Maples seem to have the same samaras to leaf ratio. Guess they're as viable... If I recall Sugar Maple has near seedless cultivars.

I think excessive road salt and pavement heat are the weakness of Sugar Maple.

Like most species, Acer ginnala (Amur maple) is considered invasive only specific locations, which at this time do not include Tennessee.

Just as it is irresponsible to advocate planting potentially invasive species in areas where they are known to be problematic, it is equally irresponsible to unilaterally dismiss them as being problematic everywhere. Location, location, location!!

Amur maple will not be a problem insofar as invasiveness goes in a front yard...as a hedge, or a hedge near a forest or in the middle of an open field, there is the possiblity. As a specimen tree in a front yard, invasiveness is not nearly as likely or as big a problem.

My Japanese maple 'Boskoop Glory' has the most brilliant, glowing orangey-red color in fall. It's an upright maple like Bloodgood. I wish I had a photo from last year. It will take full sun well. If you have a spot to tuck one in, I think you'd love it.

Connie,
Of course there are seeds, and some of them will come up. You are withing the native range of sugar maple, and it wants to make new sugar maples, therefore you can expect seedlings. However, nobody can say how many, where, or if they are above your tolerance. So unless something is invasive for your region, then it's probable not very productive to worry about seeding. However it is probable not going to create any more problems than your neighbors sugar maple does. A great true orange color is hard to come by. There are multitudes of reds and yellows but very few true orange, so your not likely to find the PERFECT tree with no issues.

Lastly, if you would like a somewhat smaller tree still with great orange color then Autumn Splendor Sugar Maple would be a good choice (assuming soil is suitable for sugar maples). It is a selection of the Caddo ecotype, and therefore smaller. More along the lines of 30-35' if I remember correctly. I don't have a picture for you, but the local botanical garden has them and they are very nice.

Lastly, there are many many many tree farms around central Tennessee, so you should be able to come up with what your looking for fairly easily.

Arktrees

It was my understanding that silver maples were the most prolific seeders of the maples, and I just wondered how sugar maples compared.

I did find a [somewhat] local source through the master gardeners that has Commemoration, Somerset, and many, many others. Sadly, they are only open on weekdays.

I'm also going to check and see if they have Boskoop Glory - they had several JMs as well. :) That might also be a better ultimate size if it's comparable to Bloodgood.

I have a Green Mist JM planted near our mailbox, and the color on it in the fall took my breath away. Bright, clear, vivid orange. I just bought it last year, and in fact, it was so beautiful that I very nearly wrecked my car turning into the nursery while gawking at it. :) It was one of those things that I definitely didn't go there to buy, but when I saw it I couldn't bear to leave without it. :)

In case anyone is interested, here's the list of Maples from the nursery I found. My mom asked one of the MGs and this is the place she recommended for trees.

Paperbark Maple is another one I find very interesting for that awesome bark. I love Birch, but don't have the right conditions for those. I wonder what kind of fall color Paperbark Maple has?

Anyway, this looks like a really good selection to me! I'm going to have to figure out a way to get down there and check it out. The prices are so reasonable, too.

MAPLE, ARMSTRONG
MAPLE, AUTUMN BLAZE
MAPLE, BOWHALL
MAPLE, BRANDYWINE
MAPLE, BURGUNDY BELLE
MAPLE, CELEBRATION
MAPLE, CRIMSON KING (ROYAL RED)
MAPLE, EMPEROR 1
MAPLE, INABA SHIDARE
MAPLE, JAPANESE BLOODGOOD
MAPLE, JAPANESE CRIMSON QUEEN
MAPLE, JAPANESE RED
MAPLE, JAPANESE TAMUKEYAMA
MAPLE, KARPICK
MAPLE, NATIVE RED
MAPLE, NORWAY
MAPLE, OCTOBER GLORY
MAPLE, PAPERBARK
MAPLE, PRINCETON GOLD
MAPLE, RED SUNSET
MAPLE, SANGO KAKU
MAPLE, SEIRYU
MAPLE, SENTRY CRIMSON
MAPLE, SHISHIGASHIRA
MAPLE, SILVER
MAPLE, SOMERSET
MAPLE, SUGAR
MAPLE, SUGAR COMMENMORATION
MAPLE, SUGAR GREEN MOUNTAIN
MAPLE, SUGAR LEGACY
MAPLE, SUMMER RED
MAPLE, SUN VALLEY

Of those maples, 'red sunset' is the most intense red that I have seen. Unless you're in an upper elevation, as much as I hate to say this because I truly love them, I would avoid sugar maple. The Japanese maples are best for a part shade location in tenn. Norway maples are poorly adapted and the rest are columnars or silver maple hybrids which I wouldn't recommend.

grandma I agree on the Red of Red Sunset, but your comment about elevation and Sugar Maples is puzzling. ????????

Arktrees

I was in the same situation you are in this year and I decided on a red maple named "October Glory". This has stunning color and very few seeds. Also look into an "Autumn Brilliance Serviceberry", single stem version. White flowers in spring, followed by an edible berry (the birds will have them cleaned out before they ever fall), finally a bright orange fall color.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:463172}}

Thank you for this question and thanks for the answers! My husband and I were at the nursery yesterday and when he saw those gorgeous full color maples he said "I want one of those!" This from a man who until he met me 30 years ago, had never picked up a shovel except to shovel snow, Now he's happy to dig the hole and pick the tree to go in it!

Marie

arktrees, my comment about sugar maples was specific to connietn and would apply to z7 in TN. In locations with more favorable growing conditions, elevation doesn't matter. But my best advice for anyone wanting to learn which trees do well and which trees look fine for a while but eventually succomb to stress related pest and disease, ask a local arborist.

Nearly all, if not all of Tennessee is without the native range of Sugar Maple. They are native to my area as well even though many many maps do not show them to be, they are far from uncommon. Also connietn stated her neighbor had one in their yard. There was no indication it was doing poorly. Hugh numbers of them are grown in middle Tn on tree farms. Don't think she has anything to worry about in her middle Tn location. So the comment intended for me or not, it was incorrect, and coonnietn needed to know that. Soil, road salt, and exposure to reflective surfaces are a much greater concern.

Arktrees

Being in the native range doesn't mean a tree is going to perform well in the landscape. The landscape and street plantings have a slew of stresses not found in upper elevations, creeksides and the ideal environment where they would be found.
Just the same as a coyote may be native to a particular region but forcing one to live in the city is going to present some obvious challenges for their survival.

And just because something appears perfectly healthy doesn't mean it isn't stressed. Sugar maples are actually known to look perfectly fine one season then get attacked by some pest the next.

grandma,
And those other factors are soil, compaction, salt exposure, reflective surfaces etc just as stated. Also news flash, native range means native pests, and these trees can and do die suddenly where ever they grow without disturbance. Seen it happen many times. Happens to Oaks, Maples, pretty much everything. Just because it not in a "natural" environment does not men it highly stressed either. Outside my office is a 36"+ caliper sugar maple, that is on a hilltop on very thin soil. There was sewer line layed through it's root zone many years ago, and we have had drought and excess heat this year just as in many years past. Tree looks great and is very healthy. Oh, and we are on the south western edge of its range with many maps saying it doesn't live here. HARDLY ideal. By your criteria it died many decades ago. I think I'll take what the tree is telling me over you. Also you did not address that hugh numbers are grown for sale in middle Tennessee. Highly doubt they would be produced in such great numbers if the climate was so awful for doing so. Sorry, but you are flat wrong.

There is one thing to add however. not all cultivars are suitable for all climates. However Commemoration was developed from an Indiana see source (as was Legacy) and would be just fine for Connie, just as it has been for me.

Click the maps in the link for the individual states for distributions within states.

Arktrees

Here is a link that might be useful: Native Range Sugar Maple

If this helps settle the debate at all (g), my neighbor's Sugar Maple is astonishingly beautiful. It's about 40' x 25' and seems very healthy.

I have noticed a lot of Sugar Maples around here, and they seem to do very well. Fall color is better some years than others, of course. I don't think our trees color up as well as some other parts of the country.

I'm very happy to get recommendations from you all about consistent performers, especially from people in zones similar to mine. :)

Connie,
Another tree came to mind that might fit you if you rather got a bit smaller. Chalk Maple Acer leucoderme or Acer saccharum ssp. leucoderme depending upon who you ask. Probable won't be a true orange color, but they are purportedly reliable intense fall color. Pictures from the web would bear this out, and they supposedly get to about 25 feet or so. They also are not often planted. Downside is that you likely have to ship a small plant, but for many the growth from small tree is rewarding in itself.

Then there is one other Sugar Maple that you mind find of interest. Acer saccharum 'Fall Fiesta' grows more narrow than Commemoration. This our second Sugar Maple we have. Ours is growing 20-24" year. The link below is to a plant evaluation program by Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service and the University Arkansas for plants planted in the year 2002. One of these is Fall Fiesta. Be sure to click on the picture to bring up a high resolution image of one of the trees in the trail taken in Fayetteville Arkansas 2006. This cultivar originates from Minnesota seed source, and is perfectly happy in the south. In fact I recently saw a number of these and Green Mountain planted in the same place, the same time, same care, and the Fall Fiesta are clearly fairing much better than the Green Mountains.

As for the Commemoration, if that is what you want, don't worry about your climate, that is fine. Soil type, compaction etc are bigger concerns. Also realize whatever you plant likely will not color normally for 1 to a few years. They must get completely established to put on their full show.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fall Fiesta Evaluation

There's a fall photo of "Boskoop Glory" at this link:
http://www.phillipoliver.net/091121front.jpg
The color is not an exageration, IMO. I got mine as a 18" plant at Home Depot 4 yrs. ago, and it's 5 and 1/2 feet high now.

Sue: That. Is. Beautiful. And the size is great! This is among my top picks to investigate now. I have the beginnings of a small JM collection, so why not another? And you say it will do full sun, right?

Finding a small tree like this is appealing because one of the perennial gardens, the one in front of where the tree will be placed, is a dedicated "autumn" garden. It would be very cool to have this color right behind it.

Also just looked up Chalk Maple. That sounds like everything I'm looking for. I have never even heard of it until now.

Good luck finding one.
If you want a chalk maple, you're probably going to have to order one in a small mail order size.

We chose Autumn Blaze Maple, Acer freemannii 'Jeffersred' to replace a Norway Maple that we cut down. Norway Maples are terribly invasive so I would stay away from any of the Norways, Acer platanoides.

The Autumn Blaze is a hybrid between a red and a silver. I am not sure if it produces seeds or not... I tend to think it won't since hybrids are often sterile.

Here's a pic of my "Boskoop Glory" jm. It gets 10 hrs. sun a day & faces west, where it gets all the brutal afternoon heat. It's 3 ft. away from the paved road in front of our house, which radiates heat to it as well.
This year we had record heat spring, summer & fall - I can't even count the number of 90+ degree days we had, plus some droughty periods. I watered it a handful of times. I don't see any leaf scorch. It is just beginning to color up a wee bit:
{{gwi:463174}}

Connie,
We have one we planted in early May of this year. Can't really tell you much about personal experience yet, other than that it came through a unusually hot dry summer with no problems giving it regular but minimal care. No color to speak of yet, but I don't expect it to do much this year anyway. So far pretty tough, but again only a few months experience. The link takes you to where we bought it. We went to an open house for this nursery, I wanted to see the Chalk Maples due to rarity, LOVED them, and could not resist picking one out to bring home. The Chalk Maples she had all looked very healthy. She does ship, but I can't tell you the cost as we drove to her location. She did tell me she had shipped a number of them. As I originally stated, for Chalk Maple you are almost certain to have to ship a small tree, but by all counts they are worth it. Which bring up one other point. Even on the large Sugar Maples you have looked at, they aren't going to large for A LONG TIME. Probable a absolute minimum of 25-30 years before they begin to approach anywhere near stated max sizes. Will you still be gardening, or even in that house at that time? Just a thought.

Arktrees

Here is a link that might be useful: Pine Ridge Gardens

Sue, your Boskoop is just glorious! How lucky were you to find something that cool at Home Depot! :)

ark, that is a really good point. I'll be lucky to be alive in 25-30 years. :p If my tree is shading my perennial garden then, it's unlikely that will be at the top of my list of cares! LOL

I found a Chalk Maple at Nearly Native Nursery in GA. Theirs is $24 for a 3-gallon, 5 foot tree. About another $25 to ship. I have a call in to them to ask them some questions, but I'm thinking seriously about it. I like it for being a bit out of the ordinary, too. From everything I've read online, it sounds like everyone who has it, loves it. Haven't heard a bad word about it!

If you're interested in trying a Boskoop Glory really cheaply - I'd try World Plants online - they're sold out now, but prob. available next spring. I've bought several tiny size 1 maples there, and they are vigorous growers. My Osakazuki started out 4 years ago less than 1 foot, now it's four foot high. In my opinion, they're the best source for cheap, great JMs!!

Connie,
I didn't think you had though about how long it would be before a large tree would cause problems. It's been my experience that people seem to think that a large fully grown tree will just appear one morning when they walk out of their house. Of course we all know that is not the case, but people rarely think like it's not the case.

As for Chalk Maple, sounds like your in business. It is a SERIOUSLY under used tree. Few know about it, and few are available, though eventually someone will champion it, and it's popularity will sky rocket. Happening now with the Shantung, Caddo Sugar Maples, and Big Toothed Maple. As I stated, they were just WAY WAY too nice to leave them all sitting there, so I bought the biggest one she had (advantage of getting to put your own hands on them). Whatever you do, let us know what you do and how it fares. That is how word will spread, and somebody some other time will happen along your posts and get good information from them. That's one reason why I frequently respond about those plants I have personal experience with. It's good for the poster now, and for those that may find it in the future.

Arktrees

That's true. That's how I ended up on gardenweb - I would be googling this plant or that plant, and inevitably would find a gardenweb post about it. I always felt I learned much more (real life experience) from reading those posts than I did from any other source. After a few weeks of that, I finally said hey...I think I need to join gardenweb. :)

...and the winner is...

Chalk Bark Maple! :D

I really, really appreciate every suggestion you all made. I had loads of fun googling every tree you mentioned, and I have a great wish list now because of your generous advice and the photos you shared.

I just spent about half an hour on the phone with Jim at Nearly Native Nursery in GA, and after talking with him I decided this would be the perfect tree for the spot. It will be behind a "fall" garden, and he was kind enough to upload several pictures to the Web site while we were on the phone to help me get a feel for the fall colors it would offer. It sounds like the tree has a pretty good growth rate the first few years, so I think it will make just the right statement in about two years, but it will not ever get so big that it will outgrow its space, should we end up staying in this house for a long time.

I'm very, very happy and excited. It will ship next week, so I'll be the proud owner by next weekend.

Thanks again to all of you! Your advice was stellar all around.

Although its after the fact and these trees can have variable fall color...

I visited the Chicago botanic gardens yesterday and the most glorious of all the tree specimans they had was a Acer triflorum. I just stood there admiring the bark, texture and shape of the tree.

It began taking on tones of yellow and orange for its fall show.

Whaas, I haven't seen one of those in person, but I did run across it when searching. It definitely caught my eye too!

Connie,
Glad to have come up with something that fits you. I had thought of triflorum, but was not sure it would develop enough color this far south. We also have a triflorum that id doing very well (grew three feet), but how well fall color is going to perform remains to be seen. Not sure how drought tolerant it is either. I have seen accounts both ways. Now, I'm going to go look for those pictures of Chalk Maple that were apparently uploaded today. ;-)

Arktrees

Congrats, Connie! Wow - that's a terrific price for a 5 ft. tree!!
BTW, sadly, I just found out the founder of World Plants passed away Sept. this year. Their web page says "for now, family and friends will operate the nursery". I hope they don't go out of business - it's the only way I've been able to buy Japanese maples for a really cheap price ($15 each) and I don't mind waiting 4 or so years for them to get 3-5 feet high - around here, a decent-sized JM is $100+ each!!