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Show WASATCH SPECIES OF THE snuggy MAPLE dens. (Maybe we should try Box Elders?) Complying with an Earth schedule four billion years old, ground hogs predict 6 more weeks to equinox—no Responding All trees produce vernal stream or other Description: Mature (40 years) trees 30 to 40 feet tall, with trunks 8 to 12 inches in diameter. Branches oppositie, stout and usually erect. Thin, smooth bark, gray o1 brown. Leaves simple and palmate, looking much like the sugar maple leaf of the Canadian flag Range: In Utah, Colorado, and Arizona extreme southern Idaho, Texas panhandle and northern Mexico, from 4,000 to 9,000 feet Habitat: Along mountain streams and on the north facing slopes of canyons and gullies. Associates: Box Elder, Gambel Oak, Douglas Fir, White Fir, Western River Birch Mountain Alder, Chokecherry, Wild Rose, various currants, and shade loving herbaceous plants. Cultural Notes: Beautiful single trunk. Commonly maple in winter is Box Elder. Both requiring large amounts of water, the two species grow in similar habitats, but Box Elder is much more numerous and must grow directly adjaa are surprise. the constant source of water. Also, winter buds on a Box Elder are covered with fuzz, while Bigtooth buds are shiny and Ws Y WY Y Vfy)A), Y]/ ¢ cS converted to starch and stored in twigs, trunk and roots in the fall. In early spring, the starches reconvert to sugars and return to the tree’s extremities. Tap any other tree for a mere ooze of sap, but sugar maples send sugar water up the tree so fast that it literally squirts from the trees when tapped. © reason maple tree sap climbs so fast is high concentrations of sugar — 2 to 4% — much higher than any other tree. Maple sap is indis- tinguishable from water. To get the thick, sweet pancake topping, sap must be filtered and boiled down. It takes 40 gallons of watery sap to boil down to one gallon of maple syrup. Each tree produces only 3-10 gallons of sap. Maple trees give us shade along streams in summer, flaming red leaves in fall, and — with a lot of work — rich maple syrup in spring. Try some real maple surple [sic] on your pancakes. You'll experience a strong, flavorful difference. You'll never go back to the watered down imitation we usually use at home and in restaurants As you hike or ski this month, watch for the smooth, gray stems of Bigtooth rising as maple, and imagine sap fast as blood into the face of a new bride. i Hove ed Utah LLOO72 CAL . Gardens Looted in — VWeilt-st? DAMEOGC Ain NSN Three of England's bestkerown garaen euppere ana Better yet, place a stethoscope to the thin bark. You'll hear the sap rising— the living heartbeat of a : tree. @ Chien & rboreturn, Join US or this mont 6 UK-Utah celepration! Guy Cooper 16 British Herb Gardens Landscape designer/author illustrates the art of using herbs in garden design. March 20 _ Dr. Christopher Grey-Wilson Exploring for Alpine Plants in Southwest Chin British POWDER BEACH REALTY and Residential Sales Vacation Rentals At ey Property Management Park City Deer Valley Wolf Mountain useful plants lives on when he discovered Dr. in China. March 23 Adrian Bloom Colorful Perennials wit Dwarf Conifers Bloom's pioneering designs have transformed traditional perennial borders into garden islands. Author of numerous books, he is one of today’s leaders in English garden design. Snowbird/Alta Solitude/Brighton Salt Lake Valley Tickets - $4/RBGA members, 6/non-members All Presentations are 7 - 9p.m. ottam Visitors Center, 300 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City (Adrian Bloom's presentation is at the U of U Fine Arts Auditorium) (801) 944-9444 were” For more info call 581-IRIS ea In Park City call: 645-9444 rboretum | az arated into individual leaflets. PAGE exploration Grey-Wilson showcases rare, beautiful maple leaf of the Canadian flag. Rocky Mountain maple leaves are smaller and rounded on the tips. Box Elder leaves are compound, with the 3-5 lobes sep- Litliges ity March bald. The large leaf of the Bigtooth, from which the tree derives its specific name grandidentatum: grandi=large, dentatum=teeth, are quite distinctive. Three to five lobes are pointed at the tips, and the leaf resembles the Sugar landscape tree, clumping like birch or can be pruned to a Requires rich, welllI drained soil 3rilliant fall color Shallow root system available at nurseries as three foot whips. Intolerant of transplanting from wild Where to see one: Spot them in the fall by their bright orange/red color (the maroon in Mountain sumac.) Watch for them growing along streams and in gullies and othe drainages where water runs off in spring, The steep faces of Mount Timpanogos are carpeted with them! aYWis to sugars which to the life giv- ing light of lengthening days, buds swell. Starches stored in roots and trunk convert to sugar and ascend to nourish the starving budyoungsters. One group of trees shoots sap up the xylem faster than any other: More the sugar maples. notorious in Utah for its brilliant fall color, our Bigtooth maple is a true sugar maple. oT Bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum) is one of three maples in the Wasatch Mountains. Maples, from the family ACERACEA are restricted to the mostly northern hemiphsere, with 600 species, 13 native to the United States. The other two species native to the Rocky Mountain area are Rocky Mountain Maple (Acer glabrum) and Box Elder (Acer negundo.) During this leafless season, maples are easily recognized by their branching pattern, with twigs arranged oppositely along the branches. Distinguishing among Utah’s three maples is also relatively simple: While Rocky Mountain maple usually grows slender shrublike, with trunks in clumps, Bigtooth maple often grows with distinct tree-like trunks to a diameter of 12 inshes or more. The only ot her tree with opposite branching that Bigtooth might be confused with cent Bigtooth Maple, Acer grandidentatum Also Known As: Hard maple, Acer saccharum var. Utah pioneers attempted tapping Bigtooths to harvest the sugar-rich maple sap. Although Bigtooth is a close relative of the eastern Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and produces great quantities of sugary sap, production was not economically viable here because of the scarcity of the trees. till blanketed in winter white, the Earth remains apparently sleeping, yet magpies nest in gnarled oaks and in MAPLE ee eo eo By Pamela Mills Poulson Manager of Environmental Education Red Butte Garden and Arboretum stir TIMES MONTH BIGTOOTH mammals MOUNTAIN 7 at the University of Utah =) |
