Shantung Maple Acer truncatum

Shantung maple is the maple to plant where a Japanese maple would fry. It comes from the hill forests of northern China and Korea, where summers are hot and winters hard, and it brings that toughness with it: heat, wind, alkaline soil and the kind of dry spell that browns the leaf edges of most of its genus. It forms a compact, rounded tree with a dense head, small enough for a suburban garden, and one plant makes a tidy shade tree over a courtyard, a patio or a patch of lawn.

The leaf gives it away. Each one is star shaped with five pointed lobes, and the base is cut almost straight across where it meets the stalk, which is where the name truncatum comes from. New leaves open with a purple to bronze flush in spring before settling to glossy mid green, and a snapped leaf stalk weeps milky sap, a trait it shares with Norway maple.

Tough, but with habits to plan for

Plant it in full sun for the densest crown and the clearest autumn colour, though it accepts part shade. It handles clay and limestone soils that defeat red maples, and once settled it gets through dry periods with no more than a deep soak in a heatwave, although young trees need regular watering through their first two summers. Frost is no problem at all; this is a cold climate tree that also happens to cope with heat. The drawbacks are worth knowing before you buy. Sold as the species, it is usually seedling raised, so autumn colour runs anywhere from butter yellow to orange and red, and two trees side by side may not match. The display is also brighter after cold inland nights than in a soft, humid coastal autumn. It tends to branch low and will grow as a multi stemmed tree unless trained, and a good crop of winged seed comes down in autumn and needs sweeping off paving.

Choosing between the tough maples

Its hybrid offspring, Pacific Sunset, is the answer when you need matching trees for a row: a named clone, larger and more upright, with darker green leaves. Trident Maple is the other heat hardy option, similar in size, with smaller three lobed leaves, flaking bark as it ages and a good record in tight street plantings. Shantung is the one to choose for its star shaped leaf, bronze spring flush and tolerance of alkaline ground. Keep the soft leaved Japanese maples for sheltered spots out of hot afternoon sun; Shantung is what you plant on the exposed side of the house. The full genus is together in Maples.

One trunk or several

Because it branches low, decide in the first winter whether you want a single trunk or a multi stemmed tree. For a clear trunk to walk or mow under, keep the strongest upright stem, cut its rivals back by half, and take the lowest limbs off over three or four winters, a few at a time, so the trunk thickens as it rises. For a courtyard, a few well spaced stems from near the ground often look better than one, and the only job is thinning anything that crosses into the centre. Work while the tree is bare, when the framework is easy to read and before the buds begin to swell. Young trees want a spring feed and a broad ring of mulch held back from the bark; established trees need little of either. Aphids on soft spring shoots and the odd scale insect seldom need more than a hard spray from the hose.

Choosing a size

This plant is available in 5 sizes, from 330mm up to 200L, priced from $219.00 to $1629.00 per plant. The size shown is the pot the plant arrives in, which is the rootball, not the height of the plant. Every size here is established stock rather than a starter plant, so this line is intended for immediate effect rather than for growing on. Not sure which to choose? Read our guide to growing maples in Australian gardens.