Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Saturday - September 22, 2012

From: Fresno, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Trees
Title: Need information about planting Red Maples in Houston, TX.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

I want to plant some Drummond Red Maples in my front yard. What cultivars would you recommend, and what is the absolute smallest amount of space possible between two of these trees?

ANSWER:

Not too long ago, Mr. Smarty Plants received a similar request from Houston regarding Red Maples. Rather that rewrite the answer in this space, I’m going to provide you with a link to that previously answered question. I double checked to make sure that the links in the answer still work. Click here for the previous answer.

One of the sources in the answer is the Texas Tree Planting Guide from the Texas Forest Service. This is an interactive guide that is just full of information about trees, and is fun to use. By using the Custom Tree Selector, you will learn their recommendations for Harris County. Another feature in the Guide is the Tree Planting Tools page. Two topics of interest are “Relative Tree Sizes”, and “Planning for your Available Space”. These sections will let you know that Red Maple tress are considered to be medium to large size trees at maturity, and that that the spacing should be 45 ft. apart.

Here is another tree planting link from the City of Houston.