Re: size of silver maple trees
FourCubed@aol.com
Sat, 19 Sep 1998 22:35:45 -0500
William M. Harlow, (who is buried a few blocks from my house under a dawn redwood tree he planted years before his death) in his _Textbook of Dendrology_, describes them as a medium-sized tree, 60 to 80 feet high, 2 to 3 feet in diameter. The national champion as of 1996, located in Polk County, Iowa, is 379 inches in girth (10 feet dbh), 61 feet high, and 82 feet in spread. This obviously isn't the tallest one. Like Mark says, it will grow in caliper until it dies. Silver maples are very fast growing trees, which indicates they tend to be short-lived. But under ideal growing conditions, they can certainly put on a lot of girth before they die. Here in Syracuse, which is heavily planted with them, especially in older sections of town, I've seen them up to 4 1/2 feet in diameter. Today, in fact I saw a huge one that had obliterated some unfortunate soul's house (we had a tremendous windstorm last week).
Silver maples as a street tree are much maligned for their weak, brittle wood, but I think they've gotten a bad rap. I've noticed during this windstorm and last winter's devastating ice storm in upstate New York and Canada that silver maples weren't damaged any or much more than most other street trees by ice and wind. After the demise of the American elm, few trees exist with the large stature of the silver maple that are suitable as street trees. American Sycamore and tuliptree (which is also brittle) are the only ones I can think of.
Steve