Acer platanoides Oregon Pride - Norway Maple

Acer platanoides 'Oregon Pride' is a variety of the Norway Maple with fast growth and an almost spherical habit. The leaves are large, composed of 3 to 5 irregularly shaped lobes, green throughout the season and turning a beautiful yellow to bronze colour in autumn. Occasionally, the leaves may be variegated. The Norway Maple is not very demanding in terms of soil, as long as it is deep enough to accommodate its powerful root system. Of medium size, it is often used as a standalone tree or for avenue planting.

Native to the Caucasus, widely distributed in Europe from Scandinavia to Spain and eastward to Russia, Acer platanoides is a large deciduous tree with fast growth, often associated with oak, lime, and elm in upland forests. It can live up to 200 years. The cultivar 'Oregon Pride' has fast growth. Its beautiful oval crown becomes rounder with age. At maturity, this single-trunk tree will reach 12 to 15 m in height with a spread of 7 to 9 m. Its foliage is deciduous. The leaves are opposite, palmate, 10 to 20 cm long, with 5 to 7 very sharp, toothed lobes. The leaves, carried on long petioles, are smooth with a shiny texture. The inconspicuous flowering occurs in the form of upright corymbs of tiny yellow-green flowers, before bud burst, in March, on plants aged 15 to 20 years. It is followed, in June, by winged fruits called samaras, 3 to 5 cm long. The bark of this tree is brown, almost smooth, marked by numerous shallow longitudinal crevices.

Acer platanoides 'Oregon Pride' is an easy-to-grow tree, magnificent as a standalone specimen in a park, for example. It can also be used as an avenue tree to border large alleys or as a windbreak planted at the boundaries of a large garden. It can be combined in a grove with its purple-leaved counterpart, the 'Crimson King' Norway Maple, purple beech, or Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy', for example. It tolerates ordinary soil, as long as it is deep and well-drained. It dislikes stagnant moisture.