Marmo Maple vs Autumn Blaze Pros and Cons

| August 15, 2023

Marmo Maple vs Autumn Blaze 

The Autumn Blaze maple tree is a stunning decorative tree that is highly regarded for its vibrant orange and crimson foliage in the fall. Autumn Blaze maples are deciduous trees with appealing upward branching, rounded canopies, and strongly lobed maple leaves. This Autumn Blaze maple (Acer x freemanii ‘Autumn Blaze’) is an ornamental hybrid tree created by crossing the silver maple (Acer saccharinum) with the red maple (Acer rubrum). This type of shade tree can handle smog, which is important if someone wants to plant it on a busy street. It also grows well in cities. It can grow in nutrient-poor soil and other circumstances. 

The Marmo Maple, on the other hand, is a seedless cross between red and silver maples. It develops into a tall and narrow oval shape in a short amount of time (25 feet in 10 years). These plants were chosen because of their autumn color, growing pace, and habit. ‘Marmo’ is a columnar, upright tree with orange-to-yellow autumn leaves. The deciduous tree “Marmo” has a strong central leader and is upright-oval to broad columnar. It was chosen among a group of trees that were subsequently planted in 1920 on the Morton Arboretum grounds in Lisle, Illinois, next to Lake Marmo. It was initially registered in 1985. Over the first ten years, it normally develops to a height of 20 to 25 feet before maturing to a height of 45 to 70 feet and a width of 35 to 40 feet. In the spring, five-lobed green leaves with a red tint emerge from red petioles.

Marmo Maple vs Autumn Blaze Pros and Cons

Marmo Maple vs Autumn Blaze Pros and Cons

Autumn Blaze Pros and Cons

Autumn Blaze is a cross between silver maples and red maples that combines the finest characteristics of both parents. As a result, this maple is relatively strong and easy to maintain. Once it is planted in the ground, all it needs to thrive and avoid pests is wet soil and ample sun. The Autumn Blaze maple’s leaves are one of its striking traits. The leaf’s width is three inches and it possesses three lobes. In addition to the leaf’s inherent charisma, the lobes feature a subtle slit that further adds to the leaf’s attraction.

A wide range of soil types are particularly well tolerated by Autumn Blaze. This maple is adaptable, growing well in either clay, loam, or sandy soil. In most instances, it can flourish in poor soil. Another benefit is that it is resistant to changes in soil acidity. This maple does well in neutral or slightly alkaline soils. Trace element absorption gets affected only if the soil pH is over 7.0.

Autumn Blaze can swiftly build a privacy screen because it grows more than two feet per year and, under ideal circumstances, up to three feet in a single year. The benefit of this type is that there is no special care required to speed up its growth. Once the tree’s roots are established, its growth accelerates.

Some maples have suckers, which is one of their terrible traits. Autumn Blaze is unfortunately not an exception in this regard. Suckers are immature shoots growing from trunk or surface roots. Suckers can be numerous and must be removed routinely.

Autumn Blaze’s vulnerability to cracking during storms or significant snowfalls is its second drawback. This maple’s branches are long but weak due to rapid development. Extreme weather can destroy branches and ruin the tree’s appearance. Autumn Blaze partially inherited its ancestor’s shallow root system.

Marmo Maple Pros and Cons

In contrast, the columnar form of a Marmo Maple tree is one of its most prized characteristics in the environment. In early spring, it has spectacular clusters of red blooms along the branches before the leaves appear. It possesses forest-green everlasting leaves. The landscape is enhanced by the wrinkled gray bark and brick-red branches of this tree.

This tree also requires little maintenance just like Autumn Blaze, however, it needs to be pruned in the summer after the leaves are fully grown because doing so in the latter stages of winter can cause it to “bleed” sap. 

Unlike Autumn Blaze, this species has no noticeable negative traits and no serious pest or disease concerns. Most leafhoppers, scales, and Borers attack young plants.

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