Plant Finder

Brand:  J. Frank Schmidt & Son Co.

Description:

A narrow columnar cultivar with superior branch structure, featuring quality dark green foliage that turns brilliant red in fall; visually outstanding reddish-brown exfoliating (peeling) bark; a highly valued accent tree for the fall and winter landscape

Ornamental Features

Maple, (Paperbark) Copper Rocket has dark green deciduous foliage on a tree with a columnar habit of growth. The compound leaves turn outstanding shades of orange and in the fall. The peeling coppery-bronze bark is extremely showy and adds significant winter interest.

Landscape Attributes

Maple, (Paperbark) Copper Rocket is a deciduous tree with a strong central leader and a narrowly upright and columnar growth habit. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned in summer after the leaves have fully developed, as it may 'bleed' sap if pruned in late winter or early spring. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Maple, (Paperbark) Copper Rocket is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Shade

Planting & Growing

Maple, (Paperbark) Copper Rocket will grow to be about 25 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 feet. It has a high canopy with a typical clearance of 6 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath power lines. As it matures, the lower branches of this tree can be strategically removed to create a high enough canopy to support unobstructed human traffic underneath. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.

This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should be periodically fertilized throughout the active growing season with a specially-formulated acidic fertilizer. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Special Attributes

Paperbark Maples seeds are called the samaras, commonly known as helicopters for their winged shape. The size of seeds are about 1 inch long.