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Platanus occidentalis, American Sycamore fall attention getter

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis

13 years ago

A couple good specimens are at MOBOT. I snapped the cell pics the other week.

Around STL there are plenty of wild grown Sycamores here and as many in the lots of older homes so I didn't feel a need to plant my own. Come the fall and winter I love the peeling bark.

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Been to quiet on the forums lately so I'm going to keep posting my thoughts lol.

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Comments (9)

drrich2
13 years ago
Neat. Does new 'bark' ever re-coat the smooth, skin-like gray areas where the old bark peeled away, to make it look again like the lower part of the trunk?

Richard.
Pamchesbay
13 years ago
Thanks for posting photos of sycamores. I need to find a source for these trees!
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It seems that straight American Sycamore, once it gets past spring anthracnose, has nice, deep green foliage until fairly late in autumn. However, London Plane, at least the commonly planted Bloodgood, around this time every year, is turning yellow brown with significant leaf drop for some reason, I think a combo of the stress of the sycamore lacebug and powdery mildew, but that's just a WAG on my part. Do some of the newer LP cultivars like Columbia, Ovation, and Exclamation avoid this issue?
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I'd love to see it, whaas, I've always shyed away from Platanus despite the fact I love them - the P. occidentalis due to the horrible anthracnose most get here, and the P. x acerifolia due to the rusty appearance the leaves get in mid to late summer due to the combo of heat/dryness/mildew. Most of the LP's around here have already mostly defoliated, while the American Sycamores are nice and healthy NOW, but due to springtime anthracnose, didn't look fully leafed out until almost July. If this cultivar holds up at least reasonably well on both ends, I might consider it. FWIW almost ALL London Planes around here I believe are 'Bloodgood'. Now I can't speak to the differences between MD and WI as far as leaf issues overall, but if your tree looks generally better than the Bloodgood LP would, then I'd probably give it a try.
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A neighborhood is not a neighborhood without/until it has at least 1 sycamore IMO I prefer P. occidentalis to the others since it is usually too dry after spring for athracnose over here... at least I have never seen a sycamore around here afflicted with it. 1 huge healthy sycamore with the flaky bark even if a little crowded by other trees is as beautiful to me as any open grown oak. Huge fragrant leaves. Pyramidal growth and then really filling out in all directions when older. Vigerous, fast growth, too. Cannot beat it for 3 of the four seasons of interest. Fall is the only time it takes a backseat to most other trees. It does have obvious siting factors that must be accounted for such as mature size, limb litter, and the seed balls. A must have for any property large enough to accommodate its size, especially if there are not any others within sight.
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gardningrandma
13 years ago
If you want more reliably showy bark, London Planetree is the one you want. I have one and the bark is always white. The sycamores that I have all have mostly dark bark with a little bit of white here and there.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
i though plane ='d sycamore .... anyway ...

brilliant tree... brilliant pic.. and ABSOLUTE BRILLIANT PLACEMENT OF SAID TREE ....

IN A PARK!!!!!!

as i have said previously ... they lined the suburban streets where i grew up .. and frankly they are horrible in that situation ...

NOT THIS ONE THOUGH ...

thx

ken
gardningrandma
13 years ago
hybrid planetrees (BKA london plane) is a cross between American and Oriental planes. Numerous cultivars. These are supposed to resist anthracnose better than p. occidentalis. Oddly mine got it bad this year whereas the sycamores don't seem to get it at all by me. So- moral of the story is YMMV.
Embothrium
13 years ago
Some selections more resistant than others. Public plantings of hybrid planes here include groupings which appear to consist of mixtures of unselected seedlings.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
13 years ago
ok .. i give???

YMMV Your Mileage May Vary ????

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link
aquilachrysaetos
13 years ago
I have two London Planes. They've been in the ground for a year and a half. They both are already showing pretty peeling bark. Supposedly the sycamore family is not noted for fall color but both of mine colored up prettily in an orangish yellow. The Bloodgood went first and now the Columbia looks rather flamelike. It glows against the clear blue sky.

I was very surprised because the other planes around here don't color as well. Maybe I watered them better? They certainly grew a lot this year. I don't know but I am very pleased with them.

It's very windy here and the sweet gum trees get stripped before they can color well. The planes do a better job of holding their leaves while they're coloring.
sage721
13 years ago
I'm with Ken on this one. Some of my all time favorite trees are ancient Sycamores growing along the Lehigh and Delaware canals. Sprawling, towering giants with some of the largest limbs I've seen on any tree anywhere. That said, I grew up on sycamore lined suburban streets. Those are some of the filthiest trees imaginable. Cars, porches, and my nasal passages were caked daily with thick yellow pollen. Once spring growth starts, the bark peals, what a mess. The leaves start dropping somewhere around july. Then you got the puff balls..... EWWWWW all around. And that's not even mentioning the butcher job the city-contracted "arborists" did every few years.

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