Friday, December 26, 2008
Paperbark maples in western Virginia
John Arbogast
Landscape consultant John Arbogast answers your questions every Thursday. Send questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to:
Dear John
5102 Greenfield St. SW
Roanoke, Va. 24018
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Q: Like many Virginians (I live in the western part of the state), I have been longing for spring and warmer weather so that I can get outside and work in the yard. I saw pictures of a small tree called Paperbark Maple in one of my landscape magazines recently and fell in love with the cinnamon colors in the bark. Does this maple grow in western Virginia and is it available? Are they prone to serious diseases and pests?
A: I’d recommend the Paperbark Maple as a small shade tree -- not only for its beautiful bark, but for its handsome shape and its resistance to diseases and insects. It’s hardy in our region, though not a heat lover, which is why you won't see it in the Deep South.
The Paperbark Maple is adaptable to various kinds of soils, but it must have good drainage. This maple does well in clay soils, so it should be fine for our soil in the western half of Virginia. They need full sun.
Paperbark Maples are available at garden centers and landscape nurseries. Make a few phone calls and you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them.
This maple is listed as reaching about 30 feet in height at maturity (a little taller than the flowering dogwood) and gains a spread that ranges from half to equal of its height. Its form is an upright-oval shape.
The bark of Paperbark Maples, as you noted, has young stems that are rich brown to reddish brown. Branches that are 2-years-old and have a diameter of ½ inch or more show areas of cinnamon to reddish-brown as the bark begins to peel in small areas. Old Paperbark Maple trunks don’t peel as much, but they do keep displaying rich brown colors.
Each leaf of a Paperbark Maple has the traditional maple appearance, but is actually composed of three 2- to 2 ½-inch long leaflets emerging from the same point on a long stem. The leaf color is flat green to bluish-green in the summer and turns bronze and orange-red in the fall.
This maple was given top billing in the Virginia Cooperative Extension publication “Problem-free Trees for Virginia Landscapes, publication Number 450-237, which was posted in September of 2007.
Q: Can a cold room be bad for some foliage plants? I have a bunch of indoor plants that I place outside, mostly in bright shade, for the summer. They seem to do well outdoors. I have set up an indoor plant light table for these plants during the fall, winter and spring with four plant growing fluorescents on a timer set to come on at 7a.m. and go off at 11 p.m. suspended from my unheated basement ceiling. I live in the lower mountains, and the basement room for the plants gets cold.
Most of the plants don’t do well there. Some of the green leaves become pale and some of the plants even get insects. Could the chilly room be causing the problem? If so, what can I do to help the plants and yet still keep the plant table in the basement? It is over a floor drain, which is convenient for plant watering. I only water when the soil feels dry.
A: Yes, the chilly basement could be causing the problem. Most indoor plants that we grow are tropical by origin. It doesn't get cold in the tropics.
A space heater might help, though it could be run up your electic bill. I have a similar situation in my house, and I ran an incandescent light bulb on a cord plugged into the same timer as the plant lights with the 60 watt light bulb hung near to the plants. So far, this light bulb hasn’t helped the plants much.
Be sure that your fluorescent lights are fresh and are hung so that they are no more than 6 to 8 inches from the plants. Repot plants that dry out using a potting soil that has little organic matter in it and plenty of sand or perlite for fast drainage. You can also look on the Web or in garden catalogs for plant bottom heaters, which are mat-like devices usually used for raising the soil temperature for sprouting seeds.
