# Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)

> Sugar maple, Acer saccharum: a large tree of 40 to 121 feet for zones 3 to 8, when it flowers and fruits, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/sugar-maple/

![A whole sugar maple with a full, rounded crown of orange and red fall leaves in a park](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/sugar-maple-1000.jpg?v=fc0b8b5c "A sugar maple in fall color in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York, on October 19, 2022. Its samaras ripen in September and October and fall from October to December.")
*Photo: Rhododendrites, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASugar_maple_tree_in_Prospect_Park_(92375p).jpg))*

Large tree, 40 to 121 feet, zones 3 to 8; full sun, part shade or shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow sugar maple, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Sugar Maple |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Northern sugar maple, sugartree |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 40 to 121 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 60 |
| Zones | 3 to 8 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Fall color, wildlife value, honey tree, winter interest |
| Flowers | March to May |
| Fruit | Samaras, September to December |
| First crop | 22 to 40 years (the earliest at 22, most trees by 40; full crops after about 60) |
| Pollination | Separate male and female trees. Most sugar maples carry only male or only female flowers, while some carry both, and a tree sheds its pollen before or after its own female flowers open, so plant several if you want seed. |
| Lifespan | Lives up to 500 years, and the oldest dated one reached 330. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on sugar maple marks it as one that transplants well. |
| Planting season | Spring. Silvics adds that fall plantings have been highly successful in Vermont. |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list |
| Ground | Rich moist slopes, the Appalachians, floodplain forests and stream banks |
| Native in | 32 states |

Sugar maple is native in 32 states: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Kansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KS), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Maine](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ME), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Minnesota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MN), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [New Hampshire](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NH), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [North Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=ND), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Oklahoma](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OK), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Dakota](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SD), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [Wisconsin](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WI). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=sugar-maple): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=sugar-maple:5): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Yellow Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-buckeye/index.html.md) (*Aesculus flava*): large tree, 50 to 75 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares rich moist slopes, the Appalachians, floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [Black Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-maple/index.html.md) (*Acer nigrum*): large tree, 60 to 75 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares rich moist slopes, floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [American Beech](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-beech/index.html.md) (*Fagus grandifolia*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes, the Appalachians and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md) (*Tsuga canadensis*): large tree, 40 to 100 feet, zones 3 to 7. Shares rich moist slopes, the Appalachians and stream banks in the wild.
- [September Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/september-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus serotina*): large tree, 60 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares rich moist slopes, floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [Bitternut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bitternut-hickory/index.html.md) (*Carya cordiformis*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes, floodplain forests and stream banks in the wild.
- [Every companion of sugar maple in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sugar-maple)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service, Virginia Tech's dendrology site and UF/IFAS Extension.