Norway Maple threatens my roof
You may have noticed by now that invasive plants make me a little angry as well as the people who continue to plant invasives, and especially the people who continue to sell invasive plants. Or rather, they really TICK ME OFF.
So I’m going to start a new series in which I highlight a specific invasive plant, where I’ll discuss what makes that plant such a problem and how we can eradicate them from our landscapes.
Norway Maple top snapped off, resprouting from trunk
The plant that is inspiring my anger this week is the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) because my neighbor has a whole yard full of them and he has no interest in maintaining them or eliminating the danger that they present to my roof.
This tree was brought to America by the famous botanist of Philadelphia, John Bartram. During the 1930s and 1940s when the streets of many cities lost their shade trees to Dutch Elm disease, Norway Maple was widely used as a replacement because of its fast growth and deep shade.
Brush pile of Norway Maple fallen branches
Norway Maples continue to be sold throughout the country as ornamental shade trees. I continue to hope that someday soon Home Depot (and Lowes and Walmart) will awaken to the harm they are causing the environment by continuing to sell invasive plants. Maybe one day responsibility will win out over profits.
Here’s why I hate Norway Maples:
- This is one dirty tree, dropping trash at all seasons, including flower buds, two crops of seeds, twigs, branches, and copious amounts of leaves.
- It sheds large branches from the top, then resprouts along the truck. Every time the wind blows large branches fall from the top of the tree, making me very nervous about my roof.
- It makes a LOT of seedlings. I spend way too much time every spring and summer in an attempt to hand pull all of them.
- Nothing grows underneath them. My flower beds along this neighbors fenceline are empty. Every year I try to fill in these beds, and every year I watch in sadness as everything dies.
- It is the last tree to lose its leaves in the fall, often not until after Thanksgiving, which means that having my gutters cleaned is a game of Russian roulette. Will the leaves fall before it snows? It’s been a hit and miss proposition.
- I fear for my two dogs safety when they are in the yard. One of those falling branches would hurt them badly.
Norway Maple blow-down
Norway Maples have severe environmental impacts:
- They grow faster than native maples and other forest trees and its dense, shallow root system makes it difficult for native seedlings to get established.
- They create a dense shade, under which other species cannot survive, hence my naked garden beds.
- The seedlings are very shade-tolerant, able to spread and grow in interior forests. These seedlings are usually the only plant that can survive in the shade of mature Norway Maples.
- Forests with Norway Maples show much lower species diversity than forests that have not yet been invaded.
- Its shallow roots make it prone to blowdowns.
- It is tolerant of poor soils and air pollution, making it the dominant tree in many urban settings.
Eradication of these trees requires a huge amount of labor. Seedlings can be hand pulled, and mature trees cut down, but it often resprouts again from the stump. This may be accomplished in my small city yard, but the cost is prohibitive in woodland and forest settings.
Happy Day! Norway Maple Removal
Please do not ever intentionally plant this tree!
The good news is that my neighbor has basically abandoned this house and a very happy day for us was when we had these trees cut down.
A wonderful reference to the impacts and eradication of other most hated plants is Invasive Plants: Guide to Identification and the Impacts and Control of Common North American Species. If you purchase this book through this link, I will receive $1.05 toward the maintainence of this site. Thanks for your support.
So what is your most hated plant? How have you tried to keep it out of your landscape? Is it working? Rant away about the plants you hate the most in the comments below.
© 2009 – 2010, Carole Brown. All rights reserved.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Norway Maple is my #1 hated plant these days. Seedlings and mature trees all along the pond crowd out the native bald cypress and others. Seems like it will live anywhere, even in the wet pond border. However by July my most hated plant will be the invasive water lillies!
My most hated plant is the Japanese Knotweed. I’ve been trying to get rid of a patch for 20 years now. The more you cut them down the better they grow. You can’t even pull them up and throw them somewhere else or they’ll root themselves. They’re ugly and leave big, brown hollow sticks in winter. In summer the flowers attract tons of little wasp-like insects. Never tried any kind of herbicide because I just don’t want to do that and the other stuff that’s growing among them would die too. The stuff that the Knotweed hasn’t choked out, that is. Can’t burn them because they’re too close to the house. You just can’t get rid of this stuff.
OK, hated invasives, mmm… Right now, here in Kansas, I’m having more problem with native invasives than imported ones. The good news is that native invasives do support wildlife. The bad news is that prairie is an endangered landscape and without proper management it gets taken over by colonizing trees.
Putting ecosystems out of balance causes problems to come from whatever plants are ready and waiting to take over. Since most of Kansas is agricultural the invasives tend to be plants which were brought in for cultivation at one time or another rather than things people put in their gardens.
On my list of nuisance things which invade prairie are: honey locust (have you seen the spines on those things); eastern red cedar; osage orange; and sumac. Imported invasives causing prairie problems include Johnson grass and nodding thistle.
I can’t wait to read what your “hated invasive” for next week is
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I’m not a fan of bougainvillea – its not that they are invasive but out here, people just let them grown and grow. My neighbor’s on both sides have theirs growing for feet onto our property.
I don’t have any particular ill feelings towards any plant, but my husband goes ballistic over our neighbor’s invading ivy.
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Purple loosestrife. It astounds me that it is still sold as an ornamental and referenced in gardening books as a colorful addition to the garden. It is restricted in over 30 states.
I also don’t care much for the Japanese ivy. I guess what bothers me about them is that they are so wimpy looking, and not even that pretty. I prefer ecologically local trees.
Wow, these hated plants certainly get people riled up!
@Linda, I’m with you on Norway Maple, and your pond is probably full of spatterdock, too, which is way worse than most water lillies.
@R. Brune, Japanese Knotweed is a beast to try to control! It can take up to 10 years of constantly cutting the stems to kill the rhizome.
@Alison, it’s such a shame that so little of the native prairie remains. It used to stay as prairie because of infrequent fires, but now we control all the fires so trees, native or not, are able to start to take over. The prairie is one of the most endangered habitats in this country.
@Melissa, bougainvillea is native to South America, but many varieties are sold throughout the country now. The sunnier it is, the bigger it can get. Sadly, most folks pay no attention to the size of plants when they are fully grown and don’t plan ahead for this when planting. It seems your neighbors are included in that group.
@Robin, I’m with your husband! The invasive English Ivy makes me get ballistic, too. It’s all over my neighborhood and they all think it’s “pretty.”
@jublke, Purple Loosestrife is very destructive around any of our waterways. I’m with you, the sale of this plant should absolutely be banned!
I hear ya on the Norway Maple! We had it on our last property and its shallow roots sucked all the moisture out of the ground and nothing would grow anywhere around them. Not to mention their progeny sprouted in every nearby natural area, crowding out the native plants and trees that are relied upon by wildlife up and down the food chain.
Here we have a problem with Japanese Knotweed, Asiatic Bittersweet, Multiflora Rose and Japanese Barberry. All of these are invading our moist woods and it is so frustrating to a gardener trying to increase biodiversity in her own backyard! I have also seen Garlic Mustard down the road which is troublesome because they are shade lovers and we have so much moist shady woodlands in this area.
I try to educate my clients and students about the ecological threats from invasive plants but it’s tough to convince the person on the street that this is anything other than nature in evolution. As “conservation gardeners”, we can all try to stem the tide by identifying and removing invasive plants from our own landscapes (no matter the size) and trying to encourage native biodiversity back into the residential landscape.
Thanks for helping raise awareness of the negative impacts of non-native invasive plants.
I loved how Douglas Tallamy ties the problem with non-native species back to the very low number of insects and birds they support. I think it’s a more palatable and positive message to say, “Look, if you plant a native maple you can support 68 species of inchworms, the rosy maple moth, and the birds which feed on them.”
Why would you choose Norway Maple instead of the beautiful fall color and birds which you can get with a native maple, unless you simply don’t know better, don’t care, or don’t have access to the native species?
Not that I am suggesting you axe your “hated invasives” list. What fun it is to hear people’s complaints! And there is more to non-native plant problems than the fact that they don’t support insects. They are just so costly to control and such a nuisance.
I have a few, and have battled them in schoolyard habitats and habitat restoration projects. Grrrr: garlic mustard, autumn olive, and the multiflora rose. – Bethe
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There are so many annoying invasives that it is hard to pick just one. Multiflora rose, garlic mustard, purple mustard, Japanese barberry, and kudzu are annoying in their own ways. There are quite a lot of Norway maples in my town, probably for the same reasons that you outlined. Hardly anything is able to grow underneath, and now many of them are at an age where maintenance is a serious problem.
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@Ellen, I am so glad that you are educating your clients about the dangers of invasive plants! Watch out for that Garlic Mustard as it will push out all the spring ephemerals in the woods and keep everything else from growing too.
@Alison, I’m so glad you mentioned Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home. As you know, that book is a must-read for every gardener and home owner IMHO. There are so many native alternatives to invasive plants. We just need to learn how beneficial they can be.
@Bethe Kudos to you for building schoolyard habitats and working on restoration projects! That is very important work and much needed.
@John First, that’s a great article about Dragonflies! And yes, every invasive plant causes varying amounts of ecological damage. Norway Maples definitely need to be maintained because huge chunks of them fall off at the slightest wind.
I nominate Japanese Barberry, multi-flora rose, and tear-thumb for their thorns and invasiveness.
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Oooh, I hate tearthumb. That mile-a-minute is totally nasty!
I agree with your sentiments Carole re: Norway Maple.
However, to put blame where it is due, I am virtually certain that your first picture regarding the roof threat, though low res, shows a (native) Silver Maple. I have one threatening my roof too! It seems consistent with your concerns about falling branches since Silver Maples tend to drop dangerous branches due to size, weak wood and shade intolerance (i.e. self-pruning) whereas Norways don’t generally do that due to smaller size, stronger wood and high shade tolerance.
But yeah, I think people should be more responsible and plant native or at least non-invasive species. The streets full of purple/red Norways epitomize the worst of suburban ignorance.
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