Acer platanoides ‘Schwedleri’, is Schwedler’s maple, which is an old fashioned cultivar of Norway maple. It is not a red maple. However, because its new foliage initially emerges with deep burgundy red color, it is often mistaken for red maple, particularly where red maple is uncommon. Its deep burgundy red foliar color does not last long before developing deeper purplish bronze color, with tiny contrastingly greenish yellow flowers. For autumn, the foliage turns yellow. Schwedler’s maple was a common street tree for the many large tracts of suburban homes that were built within the Santa Clara Valley during the late 1950s. Although it has not been available from nurseries for the past few decades, at least two similar but more modern and darker bronze cultivars of Norway maple are becoming more available. Modern cultivars are generally sterile, so are not invasive like the simple species has been within some ecosystems that are more favorable to naturalization than that of the Santa Clara Valley. The Norway maple in the picture above is not ‘Schwedleri’ but looks very much like it.

Acer rubrum is the real red maple, not just because of its often bright red autumn foliar color, but primarily because of its red floral buds that emerge immediately prior to foliation in spring. However, prior to autumn, its foliage is simple green. Red maple was rare here prior to 1990, and by the turn of the Century was still only mildly popular in the Santa Clara Valley. It could be more popular than it is, and realistically, performs better as a street tree than cultivars of Norway maple. Although not as colorful as bronzed cultivars of Norway maple are through summer, its vibrant yellow, orange and typifying red autumn foliar color is superior, even in response to only mild chill.