If it was up to me, Norway maples (along with all other non-native seeding trees) would be banned. I'll never understand the fascination with these brown leaved monstrosities, they're like the Lada of the tree world. Red maples (Acer rubrum) are superior in every way (growth habit, spring colour, summer colour, fall colour, less dense, they're native etc.) I shouldn't be so hard on the layman when most nursery workers have no clue what they're talking about. Unless you fully understand growth habit, growth rate, cultural requirements, and ultimate height and spread, chances are you'll choose the wrong tree. Do your homework.

It is amazing. Speaking with the farmer behind us he believes his corn is about 2 weeks behind because the rainfall has come down in very short periods and mostly run off. On top of that most of the large rain producing systems have gone either north or south of us so far. It all evens out in the end so of course last night and today we got pounded with rain. On the bright side I will not have to water it for a while. The mulch now does look kind of weird compared to the way everyone else piles up mulch to the trunk. Hopefully as it grows I can expand the mulch ring and keep it not as deep so that it is more flat and does not draw attention to the flare as if it disappears into a hole of mulch. Thanks for all the advice and I will keep an eye on the tree the rest of the summer and provide updates. My hope is that the tree is putting a lot of energy into creating new roots so that way it can take up nutrients and plant itself firmly in the ground since it is in a very windy location. Then in the next couple of years it can start adding height. Kimberly, keep me updated if your tree retains its leaves. Mine have been red for a few weeks and none have dropped. My hope is that they will stay on for some time and then those branches will leaf out again next year. Do you have pictures of the tree? I would be interested to see if it looks the same as mine posted. I hope I can ask one more question: When a tree is stressed and drops leaves early, does that branch also die? For example, on the couple of branches that all the leaves are red, do the leaves just die off or does the branch usually die off and need to be cut out the following year? My thoughts on the landscapers/nurseries that sell the trees are they are much more short sighted that what we believe. I think it is not much about selling you another tree down the road when the one they put in dies. I think it is about the process of putting it in. They came with a 2 Â 2.5" caliber tree with a large root ball and a bag of mulch. They left with nothing. I would think that once they dig this big of a hole, plant the tree and use some to backfill, they would be left over with quite a bit of clay from deep in the hole. Instead of taking it away they just pile it on top of the root ball, cover it with mulch and leave empty handed. If you think about it, and they had to take away just a few buckets of soil from each tree they planted, this would create a problem for them with what to do with it. It is much easier on their part to plant wrong that do what is right. It is too bad because if they would have just left a pile of the soil that was not needed, I could have found a use for it.

Not sure what area of ME you're in, so don't know your zone, which would affect your list of possibilities. Red oak is hardy to zone 3, and pin oak is good to 4, both have an average growth rate of close to 2'/yr once established in good conditions, and both have the benefit of beautiful fall colours. We purchased a few young pin oaks this spring, and I am really liking their form and colour, more so than the red oak. Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica) is quite tolerant of soil conditions, with beautiful fall colours as well, and some cultivars are faster growing than others. If you wish to look outside the box, bald cypress (taxodium distichum) may work if you are in zone 5, likes moist to wet soils, is very fast growing, and has beautiful, soft, ferny foliage. I don't expect their are many bald cypress in ME! Katsura (cercidiphyllum japonicum) is hardy to zone 4, adaptable, and relatively fast growing though may take some time to become established. It also colours beautifully in fall, though its heart shaped blue green leaves are pretty enough throughout the year, and has an added bonus that when the leaves colour in fall and are warmed a little by the sun, they emit a wonderfully sweet fragrance that has been likened to caramelized brown sugar or cotton candy. Even my young seedling has done this. Have fun in your search, and don't be afraid to get creative!

Gotta be honest with you---if I'd known what I know. We've got full sun, we've got alkaline, clay, poorly-draining soil, we've got hard, mineral-heavy, alkaline water, we've got hot dry winds. We planted the tree mid-May of last year, right before it got hot, and way under-watered the tree (inexperience and ignorance on the part of my landscaper and myself). Instead of a nice, thick layer of rich, organic mulch, my landscaper covered the roots with a thick layer of DG right up to the trunk. Though his intentions were good, he buried a plastic pipe in the ground and stuck a drip emitter in it to "reach deep into the roots" and when I finally yanked it out it was clogged with soaking wet clay....This probably led to root rot which is why that branch, which faces South (i.e. the most stressful orientation of any branch) ended up somewhere between dead and severely weakened). So it cannot shade itself, and it cannot shade the soil which has Southern exposure. By all rights the little guy should have given up and croaked. But he's not doing too badly, except for that one branch. I am only half-joking when I tell him that I've got a nice crepe myrtle picked out if he doesn't make it, but I do have a lot of respect for his determination to survive. It goes against my basic philosophy of "if the plant doesn't make it in the location I will replace it with something more suitable". But I feel he's earned my best effort. By trade I am in the human medical field....a poorly-taught, required course in Botany decades ago made me lose all interest in gardening for a very long time. But now it truly fascinates me.