Did you get rid of the Maple? I'm kinda done with DG, too, Byron.

Better "play REALLY nice" at Dave's... or he'll let you know about it, lol.

'bout as exciting as flat root beer. :)

I got booted today from DG for what I wrote above. I couldn't deal with the "CandyLand" sunshine and bunny rabbits don't ever disagree with anyone ever stuff there. And yes, if I wanted to know about invasive or indigenous plants, I sure wouldn't go to those forums on DG. There are just WAAAAAY too many people on those forums who have no problem with planting invasive plants, and if you call them on it, no matter how tactfully, you're a bad guy. I agree with you, Chelone. Flat root beer. Good riddance, DG.

Now, about those Norway Maples.........

Let me get this straight... you got booted on DG for something that you posted on THIS website? or did you get booted for posting something there, that you also posted here?

Take it down of corse!You will never regret it.I been living on my property of eight, mostly wooded acres,for a few years,and I always had a funny feeling about a number of strange-looking sugar maples scattered about.After a large poplar tree fell a number of these understory trees conspicuously went to seed and I reconized my mistake.I immediatly went about identifiying and girdeling ever norway maple I could find.They"re easy to tell apart If you look.That was last summer,and despite my efforts they all leaf out this spring.No flowers though.One I even chained saw 1/3 the way thru all the way around and lit a bondfire at its base.Still got its leaves but it doesnt look too good.I found about twenty small to medium trees in all.I've seen vast areas of woodlands in New York completely taken over by this ugly plant.Kill it!

the council wont let me take my norway maple down they said it is a lovely tree, they said they r going to prune it, i think they have put an enviroment protection order on it, it is huge and it is only about 3 meters away from my house, my garden is tiny, i cant do anything with it. does anyone no how i can kill it without anyone thinking it was me, i dont want to sound nasty, but it is to big for a front garden and if im not allowed 2 cut it down what can i do

You need your own arborist to tell you the tree is diseased, verticillium wilt and anthracnose are killing many of the maples here. An accidental weekly spill/dousing of full bottles of concentrated brush killer might do it. It will die slowly of "disease". Of course I wouldn't tell you to do anything illegal. sooo... aren't there liabilty issues for the council in forcing you to keep this tree that is invasive, soon to be diseased and obviously too close to your home? Not fond of lawyers generally but having one or two as friends does come in handy at times. Lawyer up and the council will back down.

danni06,

I went to your member page, and see you're listed as living in the UK, and I'm assuming that's up to date information. I had never heard before that Norway Maples were invasive in the UK, but then again, I wouldn't be too likely to hear it. I apologize for mentioning this if you're already aware, but plants that are invasive in one area are not necessarily invasive in a different area. I'm not as good at finding information on the web for the UK as I'd be for my local area, but I tried. I found one link that does list it as a concern, and I'm listing it.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/j1583e/J1583E10.htm

I hope other people on this forum have more definitive information, but if not, if I were you and hadn't done so already I'd try to confirm the plant is a problem where I lived. If it was invasive, I'd try to convince the council to let me remove the tree by presenting them with reputable sources for the information. I'm also attaching a link for Garden Web UK, since maybe people there would have more information. Maybe you can find the equivalent of the native plant societies many US states have. Norway maples aren't gorgeous, but except for the shallow surface roots I wouldn't really mind them if it wasn't for the fact that they're harming habitat in this area.

You might also want to see if any of the links from here have information to let you know whether or not the plant is a problem in your area

http://www.naturenet.net/orgs/

Hope it all works out well.

Lori

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening in the UK

I sometimes volunteer at various organizations in the area of Philly, and, when I volunteered with Friends of the Wissahickon, we removed several saplings of Norway maple to make way for the planting of native species at the Thomas mansion in fairmount Park. I asked the expert there how one can tell the difference between a Norway maple and other maples, and he explained that when you break the stem of the leaf open, it will be white and milky inside if it is a Norway maple. Just for your FYI. If that tree IS a Norway maple, and you have the money for it, KILL, KILL, KILL. I just recently moved to a house that has a HUGE ailanthus tree growing in the yard, and I was qouted 5 grand to take it down. I'll tell you, if I didn't have to spend the money on a gajillion other necessary things in this house, I would remove it, just so I don't have to see as many ailanthus weeds popping up all over the neighborhood! Are Norway maples those trees that have those green flowers in the spring before they get any leaves?

Jenny

Everything around my Norway Maple just languishes. The autumn splendor of this tree is gone and every year the leaf displays a black tar- like patch. Years prior it was turning a nice yellow before it fell. Now the only redeeming thing is the summer shade it gives as I face west where it really DOES shade the roof and aid the house a/c.
However, I noticed a large crack at the crotch of a major limb and feared the worst. I trimmed it as best I could.
The alternative is removal. I was quoted $600.00 that would only "grind" the stump. Damn I hate this tree.

I had two that self-seeded on my property in woodlands when the property was owned by the prior owner. They were 20' tall. I cut one down. That was 15 years ago. I'm kicking myself for not cutting the other one down as it's now 50' and I'd have to pay someone.

Over the years I've had 4 large Norways removed, and countless smaller ones. And I mean hundreds, ranging from seedlings up to 8 or 9 inch diameter. The previous owner let them spread around like crazy! I have 1 tree remaining, it is a humongous behemoth and I fantasize about that thing being chopped down on a regular basis. But, it would be costly, and I'm planning to move in a year or 2 so not sure if it would be worth it.

And another super-excellent reason to take it down is, as you said, it is too close to the house. A small tree is not too dangerous, or expensive to remove. But, let it get older, short lived trees like Norway Maple start rotting, dropping branches or holding large, weak branches over the nearby house, making it much, much more dangerous and much more expensive to remove than the younger version of the same tree. Norway Maples really are not good trees (there are so many natives that are so much better) and they are so much worse when they are near a building.

Buy a gallon of Remedy, mix it 1:4 with diesel fuel, and spray this around the lower 12"-18" of the trunk. The tree should die where it stands.

Norway Maple does not host native distributions of local insect populations. This is a threat to local future biodiversity.

The local forest resources web site recommends immediate removal of the trunks and later clipping the stump sprouts, girdling to kill before cutting, injecting the cambium with glysophate.

It all sounds so lethal but those Norways are really prolific in the US, the seeds germinate incredibly well. My hometown neighborhood has a stream/wetland area with lots of trees upland of the stream. That area is FILLED with Norways. It would really enhance the area to be able to replace them with native trees and shrubs, but such a patch is tough to work on.

Should I try a few techniques on a few trees and determine which one to use on the whole area? Should I have them all removed with a chainsaw and clip stump sprouts all over there for years and years afterwards? Its something of a problem for the local ecology.

I somewhat understand the mentality behind removing Norway maple trees. If you live near a greenbelt/forested area, definitely get it removed! If you see that it had a girdling root and it will die, remove it! But if it poses no threat to natural life, such as a street tree in a subdivision, then why remove it. I am not saying to plant them anymore, just don't remove them.

My neighborhood has all types of Norway maples and I do not understand why people say that grass does not grow beneath them, I have yet to see one without grass under it...

On the other hand I can bare to see all the Norway maples with girdling roots, I guess it is both a good and bad thing... Good because my city is replacing them with native trees (except for next to light posts, they are planting columnar norway's, Stupid if you ask me). But on the other hand it is sad to see that most of these trees will eventually die. I guess it is the city, residents and developers fault that they planted these trees. I'd say less than 50% of them have normal root flares.

The worst ones regarding girdling roots are the Crimson King Norways. Not sure why this variety seems to have a lower success rate...

We just removed ours, huge mature thing... I wrestled with the decision for weeks and lost sleep and finally decided that I could and would plant at least 3 trees to replace it.
I definitely upset my neighbor (but I let him know in advance and has his overhanging trees trimmed at my expense) but now it's all done I am so glad I made this decision.
We have already planted a dogwood. Have a pansy redbud ready to go in next weekend. Excited to have so much to work with now and establishing flower beds where we can raise perennials and grasses to attract wildlife and make the most of our relatively small back yard.

OmG I'm another just another unhappy homeowner with that Norway Maple I've tried to justify, having in my front and 15' from my living room window for years
Thanks to everyone who will like myself will find the resolve to have it removed Once and for all people.
The shade thing I'll deal with later. I can always find another. Its' sucked the life out of my Junipers and grass.. Good riddance to it

I just noticed this old post has been bumped many times. Well, I finally had my last huge Norway removed last March. What an improvement! When a big Norway comes down it reminds of the biblical expression "let there be light", haha.

There are still 2 large trees in that part of the yard (Ash and Linden) so it's not full sun, but finally other plants have a chance to grow. This makes me very happy because I've expanded the veggie garden a little, and been working on the privacy border down that side of the yard.

Yes, remove the non-native tree so that native bluegrass and native cultivars of small ornamental trees and non-native junipers can grow better!

Hehe, I'm being a bit sarcastic there, but some of this is just circular logic mumbo-jumbo. If you don't like the tree, for whatever reason, or set of reasons, take it down. But ugly? I thought that was in the eye of the beholder. I do agree with somebody up above that whereas fall color of Norway maples used to be quite good, the advancement of tar spot fungus has all but ruined that effect.

In the main, I'm with Huggorm on this one: If you're near a natural, wooded area, get rid of the Norway maple(s)-they really will invade, (And probably already have). But a tree isolated from "nature", if it's still providing benefits, is not especially damaging to the environment.

Another thing I see time and time again in threads like this is something that goes like: We took down our huge Norway maple and now we're going to plant a serviceberry (or flowering crab, or red bud, or....) These are all worthwhile plants, but you're not exactly replacing like with like. In every case darn near, it's a big, mature shade tree being replaced by a small-growing ornamental tree that somehow the property owner feels less intimidated by. But it's not a one for one replacement, not now and not ever. What I'm saying is, if the Norway maple was doing a good job but was just the wrong species, a sugar maple or some kind of oak might be a more apt replacement. There are places for the serviceberries and red buds too, but they're ornamental trees, not big, structural shade trees. There is a difference.

Incidentally, much of my work involves "native restoration". We had a big job restoring an eroded stream bank in a heavily-wooded ravine. Of course, all plants spec'd for this job were natives. So what does the contractor bring up for sugar maples? Yup.........Norway maples in a native restoration! They even had the gall to argue with me about it! At one point, they were saying the reason they appear to be Norway maples was because they were cultivars of sugar maple! Needless to say, that contractor won't be back up here any time soon. I shudder to think though of'all the jobs they supplied (based in Chicagoland) that didn't have a plant guy on hand to check the stock as it came to the job site. somebody's getting a lot of crap plants!

+oM

And stop eating potatoes (how much habitat do you think these nonnatives take up?). All nonnative corn, all nonnative agricultural land. man: 71% of our planet is used up by this. The potato is killed by the native Colorado beetle, so I guess you need to get some of these resistent to the poison used against it.

This nativeness will be an ideology we all will laugh about in a century or so. I just have to laugh at this all...

Yes - we will all be laughing when all of our woodlands are Norway maple with a bed of garlic mustard, and no wildflowers, moths, or wildlife able to survive, just armies of Asian long-horn beetles.

Will we be chuckling about that trendy native plant "nonsense" when 90% of wildlife species in North America have gone extinct, all natural ecosystems have collapsed, agriculture in the U.S. has become prohibitively expensive, the Gulf of Mexico has become a giant dead zone, aquifers are drained, groundwater is toxic, the rest of the world is close behind, and our society teeters on the brink of collapse like every other civilization in history that has depleted all of its natural resources?

I'll probably be sorry for starting things up here again. When I was first learning about native plants and exotics I didn't want to buy anything not native and was upset about the non-native plants we already had.

Now I still look for native plants that are good for wildlife first but if my husband really wants something else or I can't find a native plant that works for the spot we need a plant for I'll just do some research to make sure it's not considered invasive where I live.

I became interested in this because I wanted my garden better for wildlife. Since we've planted more butterfly host plants I've definitely seen different types of butterflies here.

loris from what I observe there are those converts who approach this subject as if its a cult religion and they are out to fight a holy war against any and all non natives by answering the call to fight to the death in order to prevent mass scale disaster resulting from letting any non native plant, insect or species exist in our midst. Sarcasm, shaming and scare tactics are effective tools they use on all non believers (or just average customers who plant something non native they bought from Home Depot).

I usually look for native plants too, mostly because they fit into my little prairie garden in my own little private yard with what I have already planted in a visual way. I choose what I like based on my own preference because, as I mentioned in another thread ITS JUST A YARD FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. As it fortunately turns out, I happen to like native plants more than others. I would like these same plants even if we weren't facing the impending crisis described above. In other words, I am not on a mission to save the planet or make converts of others.

I do not fool myself into thinking that I am fixing the over all problem with my little yard. Its a tiny insignificant thimble in a big ocean but in my little yard, I do try to keep invasive plants out. What that usually means is weeding what blows or falls into my little yard from the little yard next door. This year, in my little yard, I have made my contribution toward saving the planet by pulling ravenna grass seedlings which are coming up in droves thanks to the promiscuous plant next door. Those seedlings are actually daring to masquerade unnoticed as prairie grasses among my bluestem, indian grass, switch grass and grama grasses and are quickly earning the title "Public Enemy #1" by Yours Truly. In other words, its getting personal. I'm also casting the evil eye on the offending plant next door.

My parents had a Norway Maple tree when we were growing up. The tree finally up and died of old age after a lifetime of dropping whirly gigs by the boatloads. Perhaps it contributed to mass extinction and is guilty of bringing us to the brink of collapse, time will tell.

I've been trimming and tweaking my Norway maples for a few years. The previous homeowner cut the one in front of our house too close to the trunk and did not leave a collar. So the central branch is now rotting out and it's a matter of time before it lands on someone driving up the street.

But the tree is a landmark on the street, and I would need to replace it with something medium - large and showy... And fast growing. Maybe a Tulip tree?

Squirrelkeeper, what part of the country are you in?

Fast-growing sometimes means weak, so be careful...

We're in Eastern Massachusetts...

this link should be perfect for you then. it's useful for others in the northeast too. It mentions Tulip Tree. You might also want to look into pin oak which is narrow as oaks if you're interested in providing a better wildlife plant.

Native alternatives to invasives per William Cullina at New England Wildflower Society

Check out your space and the mature size & height of a fully grown pin oak before considering it. Its only narrow as a young tree.

Red maple, Acer rubrum, perhaps? Native to your area and its mature size is less than tulip tree or pin oak, though it's still a large tree.

How large to chinquapin oaks get in your neck of the woods?

@wantonamara - if you meant pin oak (quercus palustrus) 60 - 70 ft, there is a mature pin oak at my work and its about that tall. But the structure of the tree is a little awkward.

I talked to a tree guy at my work and he steers me away from the Tulip tree. I like the flowers, but it would be a nuisance as he says Tulip trees can lose limbs and this location is over the street. It looks like the red maple is a strong contender.

Thanks all...

Well....any tree type can loose limbs. The status of the tulip tree as the largest extant eastern hardwood suggests it is of reasonably strong structure. Hey, red maples are good trees too, but the tulip tree is , IMO, a much more long-term or legacy tree.

+oM

Is this Norway Maple tree? Picture link:

http://imgur.com/DgF9AEw, There are two of them in front of my house, and only 10 feet away. Do I need cut them away?

Holly, could only get one photo to open, but yes, that appears to be a Norway maple. Now what is the question? That is, is there some compelling reason for pruning the trees?

+om

I'm afraid they will grow very big and hurt my house since they are only 10 feet away from the house. Will they?

Sure, eventually. But that goes for any tall-growing species you plant there. Pruning can mitigate this danger in some cases, but I can't tell you over the interwebs if this is one such case, leastways, not without a ton of photos. Generally, trees are not just falling down for the hell of it though. If there are signs of inner decay, compromised strength in some way, or other obvious defect, that ups the chances of calamity considerably. But I can't tell from here!

+om

I want to cut this two trees and replace another two different trees like in my picture:

http://imgur.com/2Q0ZuN5

Do you know what's name of this tree? I think they won't grow very big and are very good looking trees .

Holly, without a closeup of a leaf or something closer-in, I can only speculate that those are perhaps a flowering crab cultivar, or a cherry of some type...or....you get the picture. There are lots of plants out there with the purplish foliage and blooms in that color. In any case, one thing to keep in mind, the tall-growing maples, oaks, elms etc. look like they take up lots of space on a landscape plan but in reality, their crowns (at maturity) are way up over our heads, in effect creating a "ceiling" to your landscape. These little ornamental things, while they have much to offer, actually take up far more space in your yard, the entirety of their crowns existing at the same level of human activity.. I always suggest spotting shade trees first, then everything else after. Large-growing tees are the skeleton of the landscape. All else follows.

+oM

This is the detail of the tree. Do you know what's the name of it? Thanks

http://imgur.com/FgHnHYk

Same comments apply. Without leaf closeups, perhaps some views of the buds....I'm talking detail, all I can tell you is it's one of many species that could look like that.

+oM

I agree with Tom about crabapple/cherry...or possibly plum. These are all in the same family. If you decide to go that route it will be important for you to look at the mature height/width for the particular variety you choose. Some are pretty big/wide, say 25-35 feet wide, which would be a bad fit for the location you're thinking of.

If you're set on that type of tree, you might consider asking for help on the Trees forum, since many of those are non-native and less interesting to most of us on the Native Plants forum. Another possibility would be the Landscape Design forum. On either of those I think you would find people who have a lot of experience with purple-leaved Prunus/Malus cultivars of various sizes and forms.

If you're looking for a suggestion for a native ornamental or shade tree, I'm sure we could offer some ideas here, especially if you let us know what zone you're in...

It looks like a Purpleleaf Ornamental Plum. They are highly susceptible to several diseases and pests. The ones here in Oklahoma don't fare well but I see them all the time because like Callery Pear they were over planted and people all got on the band wagon to buy them and still do. Once they reach maturity they're often missing big limbs, maybe its because they do well in storms either.

A better choice for a small tree with purple leaves is Purple Smoke Tree (Cotinus coggygria). They are more ornamental in my opinion, pest free, stand up to storms, the leaves smell wonderfully fresh and medicinal and they put on quite a show for a longer time when they 'smoke'.

Since this is the Native Plant forum I should add that C. coggygria is nonnative. Below is a link to the native one, however, as far as I know from what I have personally observed, the nonnative types behave well here.
http://grownative.org/plant-picker/plant/american-smoketree/

I'd love to have a smoke tree. Just saw one the other evening in a bad shady spot by a house, looked pretty gangly. I thought: I could do better.

There is a hybrid between C. coggyria 'Velvet Cloak' and the native C. obovatus called 'Grace'. I look at it online from time to time but am not really sure where I'd put it.

I used to have 3 Purple C. coggyria, I only purchased one and started the other 2 from that one. We dug them out when we changed the landscaping to prairie. The roots are bright orange yellow with purple striping, it looked unreal when I was digging them out. The whole tree smells fabulous, its a clean smell like a good liniment and its low on litter even in fall. You can start a new one with a sucker from the base. I love them.

I killed a C. obviate this summer. Sumer vacations are murder on new plantings ,. So is .2" of rain since mid June. The Deer goring didn't help either.

I have in the other side of my fence three Norway maple trees. All of with severe branch damage. This week, during a severe wind condition, two of the heavy branches broke off. They hanging up about 30 feet and will have to be remove by a professional. As I said, the trees are no mine and I am afraid that somebody is going get hurt or kill. My neighbors don´t want to do any thing about. What should I do?

Talk to the neighbor, express your concern, without getting accusatory or anything of the sort. Keep it friendly, on-point, and see where things go.