How could I have been on earth this long and not noticed how stunning red maple trees are when they flower? I know to watch for them in fall, when they turn a brilliant red. But it took me until last week, when I was walking past one covered in small flowers, to see them in early spring.
In her book Seeing Trees, Nancy Ross Hugo suggests that these trees were named for their flowers, not their foliage. There are so many red maples in the eastern U.S., and they flower so young (when they are around 4 years old), that they're one of the few tree flowers close enough to the ground for us to see really well.
Most of the flowers you'll see will be male (like those above) because only female flowers produce the wonderful helicopter seeds that seem to be flying everywhere later in spring and early summer. Landscapers often don't want to deal with the mess. As any kid could tell you, they're missing out.
Red maples beat most other trees to the punch because they flower early, produce seeds quickly, and drop them early the same year. Other trees drop their seeds in the fall, where they won't have a chance to germinate until the following spring. Many of them are eaten over the winter by hungry critters.
So keep an eye out for these beauties. Once you see one blooming, you won't believe you never noticed it before.
photos courtesy of Anita363 (top) and BlueRidgeKitties on Flickr
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