TREE TALK | A prince in the royal family of deciduous trees

It’s fair to say that no family of trees has more magnificent and garden-worthy members than the maple genus (Acer).

What do you think of when you try to imagine a maple? Is it our delicate vine maple (A. circinatum) or our massive big-leaf maple (A. macrophyllum)? Do you, perhaps, see a tree among the varied plethora of Japanese maples or a stately street tree like Scarlet maple or Norway maple?

Whichever, they all shade our summers, thrill us with autumn color, embellish our skylines with a filigree of bare winter branches, then explode in spring with plump red buds, followed by small flower clusters and then clouds of pastel-green infant leaves.

As the growing season progresses, you’ll hear maples rustling in the wind, then sending their beautiful winged seeds spinning through the air to the delight of children and resident birds and squirrels.

All trees are noble — maples are royal.

‘Unusual but not extravagant’

There’s much to say about maples in winter. Their form and their bark are essential elements of all dark-season gardens. But there is one maple that will stop you in your tracks if you see it on a winter morning or afternoon, when the sun is bright and low. That is paperbark maple (Acer griseum).

The deep, coppery-red bark of this tree glistens, especially when it’s wet. But more importantly, as the tree grows, the bark around trunk and branches peels back in thin sheets, hanging on to the wood for many months.

When sunlight shines through these wisps of bark, they glow like garnets or fragments of amber, bejeweling this princely tree as if it were ready to step into its coronation.

Paperbark maples are perfect trees for city gardens. They rarely get to 25 feet in height. They have an unusual but not extravagant growth habit: Their branches angle out and up from the main trunk.

They are late to leaf out so that spectacular bark show goes on, a vivid contrast to other spring colors. When the leaves do emerge they are small and jagged, a definite maple shape, but more intricately cut. In fall, the leaves turn brilliant red before dropping.

Caring for a maple

Give this tree a spot where you will see it outside a frequently peered-through window or coming into or out of your garden. And put it where morning and afternoon light will not be blocked, allowing the sun to illuminate its branches.

Nurseries will have plants now. Get them in the ground into rich garden loam, which enjoys good drainage.

Water the plant at least 15 gallons a week through its first two summers, if the season is hot and dry. But once established, these trees stand up well to all but the worst summer droughts. In such a year, weekly deep watering is much more helpful than the daily sprinkle.

If you want to prune off an errant branch, do so in summer or early fall to minimize bleeding. You may want to fertilize the tree in early spring and again in early to mid-summer to encourage robust growth and foliage production.

Beyond that, enjoy this plant and wait for those magic moments when the sun is just right and its regal gems ignite.

STEVE LORTON, a Madison Park resident, is former Northwest Bureau chief for Sunset Magazine.