Autumn Blaze Maple, Acer x freemanii ‘Jeffersred’ AUTUMN BLAZE

Common Name: Autumn Blaze maple

Type: tree

Family: Sapindaceae

Zone: 3 to 8    Find Your Zone

Height: 40 to 55 feet

Width: 30 to 40 feet

Bloom Time: rarely blooms

Sun exposure: full sun to partial shade

Fall Color: Red to red-orange

Soil: well drained, very adaptable, moist, acidic

Leaves: deciduous

Fertilizer: Vigoro Tree, Shrub and Evergreen or Miracle Gro Evergreen Tree Spikes

This tree has the best of both worlds, as it is a cross between the sturdy, attractive red maple and the adaptable, fast growing silver maple. This tree is a very fast growing tree that has great disease resistance and brilliant fall color. This tree is held in high regard in commercial complexes for not littering parking lots with winged seed heads. This cross breeding occurs in a controlled environment at the nursery but also in the wild, when silver maples pollen fertilizes a red maple.

PLANTING GUIDE

STEP 1: Digging the hole

• Find a location that has suitable sun exposure for your particular type of plant.
• Dig your hole an inch or two shallower than the rootball of the plant.
• Dig the hole twice the diameter of the rootball.
• Scuff up the sides of the hole with a shovel to help roots break through the native soil.
  

STEP 2: Putting plant in hole

• When removing the plant from the pot, check to see if the roots were circling the pot.
• If the plant is rootbound, gently break up the roots with your hands until loosened up.
• Set plant level, in the center of the hole.
• Make sure the top of the rootball is just above soil level.

STEP 3: Amending the soil and filling in the hole

• Amend the soil with proper amendments for your soil type. 
  
• Incorporate 50% native soil with 50% amendment soils like garden soil, composted manure or soil conditioner.
• Make sure dirt clods are broken up or removed from hole along with rocks.
• Fill the hole with soils to the soil level and pack down. Do not cover top of rootball with dirt.
  
• Water in thoroughly to remove air pockets.

STEP 4: Mulching and fertilizing

• Cover the planting site with at least 2 inches of the mulch of your choice (pinestraw, cupress mulch,etc.)
• High Phosphorus root stimulator fertilizers like Quick Start from Miracle Gro are great to use at time of planting.
• When planting trees, a tree stake kit may be required to prevent the wind from blowing over or breaking our newly planted tree until it becomes established.

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