Pat, Here in front of my office there are the ABM previously mentioned, and an October Glory Red Maple. I can't say with certainty that they were planted at the same time, but they look like it. From a size standpoint the ABM hands down, but about 15' and 2.5-3X the overall total volume. However the early spring bright red flowers are like having another autumn where the tree is red, followed by red (not as bright though) seeds. Fall color is nice, but much later, and one of the latest (along with the Tulip tree) tree to turn, which may or may not be an asset. Fall color is also shorter in duration than the ABM or Red Sunset maple. ABM fall color is much longer and is earlier. All this on the native acidic clay soil. As for Autumn Fantasy Maple, they can be easily had online if no where else, and some nurseries (where mine came from) carry them, but you probable won't find them as a big box store. Another Red Maple option would be Burgundy Bell. Here it grows a little faster than the other two (something like 20-24"/year), and has very early dense red fall color, and is not nearly as common as AB, OG, or RS maples. Then there is the Autumn Flame Red Maple, that is also nice (one across the street where I live) which has early color, and grows at a similar rate to OG and RS. Not trying to tell you what tree is right for you, only conveying local experience with the above. In short here locally on acidic clay soil ABM/AFM>Burgundy Bell>OG/RS fastest to slowest growth rate, with other considerations for each. Let us know what you do, Arktrees

Fall in Kamloops, British Columbia. The skys fill with grey clouds heavy with rain. The wind stirs the fallen leaves and whips through the Ponderosa Pines. It blows holes in the rain clouds and they let through a pale yellow sun. The Stellar's Jays come back from their summers in cooler climates. The smell of woodsmoke is in the air. The mountains get their first dusting of winter snow and the frost sparkles on the last roses of the season.

"We have had very warm winters lately so Im wondering if that effected them." Shouldn't have anything to do with it. Both are heavily planted and grow well here and generally get great fall color and we have much milder winters than you ever get in Ohio! But fall color is highly dependent on climate and weather issues as well as tree genetics. Drought as well as excessive rainfall and too warm temps late into the season can negatively impact fall color development. btw, both are not Acer rubrum cultivars. 'October Glory' is but 'Autumn Blaze' is a Freeman maple, a hybrid between red and silver maples.

Deb, i had or have pretty much the same exact comments and even the same question as ddifranco just now. 'Autumn Blaze' is a great tree. Certainly not a "plant it and forget it" type however, due to many V-crotches and competing leaders. But it's a very valuable workhorse type of tree. I agree also that this bark fissure may indicate little more than tree growth. This is not a fussy plant, in any way, albeit, for long life in the landscape, some careful leader training or subordination pruning should be done in its youth. All trees have "aggressive" root systems. Maples perhaps a bit more than say, some slow-grower like Japanese tree lilac, to swing this thing all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum, but so-called aggressive rooting is simply the plant doing what it does. It's not as though that is somehow a defect.