This has been the most popular red-purple foliaged cultivar since the 1960's. It began as a seedling of 'Schwedler' in 1937 in Belgium and was introduced to the trade in the USA in 1948. It holds the maroon leaf color throughout the growing season, though it does lose a little red tinge when the summer heat comes. It grows about 1.5 feet/year; a little slower than the green leaved mother species. Its parent, 'Schwedleri,' has the same red-purple color in the spring, but fades to a more purplish-green when the heat of summer comes. Crimson King is offered by many conventional nurseries and by big box stores. It is very common in the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Northeast of the US.

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I have seen, over the years, some spectacular specimens of 'Crimson King' Maple in Little Rock, AR... in Muskogee and Tulsa and Bartlesville, OK... and in Lawrence, Kansas City and Leavenworth, KS.

But move west from any of these towns and cities and you move beyond the relative protection of the eastern deciduous forests... and into the harsher weather on the Southern Great Plains. A lot of varieties of trees perform beautifully in this harsher environment... 'Crimson King' Maple is definitely not one of them.

In this "farther-west" environment 'Crimson King' Maple will suffer regularly and sometimes extensively from leaf scorch. Trees under this kind of stress are also more susceptible to severe stem canker.

North and east of these demarcation lines 'Crimson King' should be planted and allowed to fulfill its potential as a stunningly beautiful shade tree.

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