ospreynn, I was searching for something on the gardenweb and came across your question that you asked last April. Although it was quite a while ago that you presented your question, I thought I might be of some help to you. Some of the responses you got mentioned to try a Mediterranean Maple. Being the Virgo that I am, I'm pretty specific. Technically, the only place in the United States with a Mediterranean climate is in California. A trait that differs from a Mediterranean and the desert or high desert, depending on where in NM you are, is a touch of humidity and a bit more rainfall. So, I would suggest that you look into a maple that evolved in a climate closer to yours such as the Great Basin. Basically, the Great Basin is what is left after the prehistoric Lake Bountiful drained and left a desert and the Great Salt Lake. The area is from the Western slop of the Rockies in Utah west to the Sierra's in Nevada. Then up into Southern Idaho and Southwestern Wyoming all the way down into Arizona and New Mexico. I live in Missouri now. But, I received my undergrad in Ornamental Horticulture at Utah State University. We worked a lot with natives and how much more successful they are in a landscape than those that are introduced. Having said that, I am completely biased toward Bigtooth. We did a lot of work out there with it. Dr Larry Rupp is involved in a project of collecting in nature and propagating at USU these small trees. He is selecting for various fall colors. At the demonstration farm up there he has a row of yellow, one of orange, red and even a vibrant maroon; close to the A. truncatum 'Fire Dragon' that lou_midlothian showed you. It's amazing. But, that variety over the others has an aphid attraction that Larry was trying to weed out. I love the tree for the rootstock especially. It can handle the high pH, salt and low water. Basically, it grows as fast as you water it. The more you water it, the faster it grows. If you decide not to water it, it just slows down its growth. But, it does not thirst. It's amazing. Also, it can be trained as a single trunk or a multi. Personally, I like the multi. It comes out looking a lot like A. ginnala. The single looks like a smaller Sugar, saccharum. I'd suggest ginnala to you over any other tree based on your description of the site. But, it just doesn't like the heat that you get. At Utah State, there are several A. griseum's on the North end of the Geology building. They look amazing! In fact, that's where I fell in love with them. We expect to get married next summer :). On the Northwest side of Old Main there is a hybrid. A. truncatum x platanoides. It has the leaf of platanoides and the seed of truncatum. It thrives as well. However, it is not nearly as beautiful as truncatum alone. So, I'd say both will do well in your area. You also mentioned Silver, A. saccharinum. That's a tough old bird. We have them here in Springfield, Missouri everywhere. I have four in my yard alone. They have prolific volunteers. They will survive about anywhere. Although they don't need a lot of water, they will tap what's there, therefore preventing competitors from getting much. They prefer it a bit acidic like most in the Sugar group. I wouldn't suggest this where you live. There are three strikes right there: weeds, water and pH. The Caddo might be ok for you. But, if OK and KS are anything like their neighbor, Missouri, it's a bit more humid than NM. Therefore, it might not perform as well there as it does out here. Cacu mentioned A. campestre. Utah State also has several of these on the North end of the ROTC building. They are problem and pest-free. Perfect specimens. They will do extremely well in your area. They can handle almost any soil condition from acidic to alkaline; from full sun to shade. They don't like wet feet. But, somehow I doubt that's much of a problem in NM. They like dry, well-drained soil and can handle compacted soil as well. It sounds a lot like the NM soil I witnessed when I took Interstate 40 from Southern California to Missouri. In England, they use these as large hedges; somewhat like we would do with Boxwood. Although they are not really ornamental, they are graceful; extremely graceful. Check this out: the truncatum was very likely what you lived with in Germany. Very likely. They are native to Europe. To sum it up, I would suggest truncatum, 'Fire Dragon' if you can get it. Absolutely campestre. Also, griseum is extremely tolerant of soils and climate. You can't go wrong there. All of these trees are rather medium-sized trees with slow growth rates. The area you mentioned seems rather small. So, these will work for now. Eventually, however, they might outgrow the area. You are pretty limited out there. That's one of the main reasons that I moved to Utah State. I wanted to learn how to be successful in a stressed environment. I figured I'd learn more that way. I look up to you for taking this challenge on. So, it's been about eight months since you posted your question. What did you decide to do? And, how is it performing? I'm very curious. Thanks. EricPaul

Just joined GW and have been reading many of the "Hot and Dry" maple threads. As a former Northeaster looking for Fall Colors I've decided to try numerous trees down here to see what works best. I'm in San Antonio in the "toes" of the Hill Country on the NW side. 8-10 of "soil" and then rock/caliche. Testing either in ground or in pots (need pots as I can't get everything in the ground) Shantung, both "normal" and "Fire Dragon" - planted Caddo "John Pair" - dirt bag Big Tooth sourced from Love Creek (in ground) and Big Tooth from online (dirt pot) Mexican Sugar Maple (2) - dirt pots Chalk Maple (2) - dirt pots Also testing a Paperbark and Trident Maple. Want to also get a Flashfire Caddo and Highland Park Big Tooth but sourcing is $$ and my wife might kill me. Maybe in the early spring... We'll see how it all goes and will post up next spring. Fingers crossed. This post was edited by mattm01 on Wed, Dec 5, 12 at 16:23

... It is said to be a lovely small maple of 10 meters (30 ft) high. It is a unique type if not a unique species, which is currently placed under A fabri. They are from temperate region: remote regions in the provinces of Hunan, Hupei and Jiangxi. It is said that these are hardy and they could be deciduous. The allowable zones are 5 through 10. In colder regions, the old leaves fall in winter. It tolerates shade. Seedlings take at least 5 years before first bloom. They bloom in May and the flowers are red. The fruits last for extended period from May to almost the spring of the second year. The redness of the fruits deepens over the entire period. The fruits put up a spectacular show - they are mistaken as flowers by most people. Although it has long been listed as interesting and endangered, it only receives attention rather recently.

Hi dan, Absolutely beautiful... This is definitely an old thread..brings back memories. After over 10 years of maple "madness" :), I finally gave up all my 60+ trees (all in containers) about 3 years ago. An ice storm dropped my 2 shade trees, and without those I found it impossible to keep my container trees in the TX heat. With lot of work related travel, and kids, I found it difficult to allocate enough time for my maples. Funny, I still held on to the Aureum GFM (about 15 years old now), Autumn Moon, Abigail Rose, and a Geisha. These 4 trees are still in containers (all under 3 feet tall), under some shade cloth, and still doing great in the TX heat surviving against all odds. Good seeing your trees again. Regards, xman