Norway maples never grew in North America until they became recognized for two important landscaping attributes. The first is plasticity, for Norway maples have lent themselves to foliage color manipulations. The most popular variety has been the "Crimson King", a Norway maple with very dark red (nearly black) foliage. Other common cultivars include "Harlequin"(green and white variegated leaves) and "Emerald Jade"(leaves of jade green). The second desirable quality has been the species' ability to withstand poor growing conditions, including infertile and compacted soils and atmospheric pollution. These two qualities quickly promoted the Norway maple to become overplanted in New England, and today numerous trees can be found in virtually every town in this region.

But plasticity and aggressiveness are not without ecological short-comings, particularly when a plant is non-native. Norway maples have "escaped" cultivation, which means that they successfully germinate from seed. In fact, Norway maples have become so good at establishing themselves, the outskirts of many New England cities and large towns have stands of this species and little else. Norway maples are better competitors for light and nutrients than many of our native species, particularly in disturbed areas. The fact that Norway maples outcompete native species puts increasing pressure on native species to find somewhere to live. By planting this species, not only do we effectively replace that growing space with an exotic, but we also introduce a formidable future loss of growing space as new exotic seeds are produced and germinate. The solution is not to cease planting all foreign species (that would be an overly radical step, like botanical isolationism), but rather to become more informed about the invasiveness of the species that we plant.

more Norway Maple photos

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