Acer triflorum

Three Flowered Maple is an outstanding small tree that provides year-round interest to the landscape. Clusters of three flowers (hence the names) appear in April and are a delight to pollinators. Blooms are followed by foliage which emerges a lovely lime-green before deepening to a darker green with silvery undersides. Leaves turn vibrant shades of orange and red in fall before dropping to reveal outstanding cinnamon brown peeling bark.

Easy to grow in acidic soil in full sun to part shade. Intolerant of drought. Grow it as a specimen tree or as an understory or woodland plant.

Distinctions: Winner of an Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society. Winner of a Cary Award from the New England Botanic Society, which honors outstanding plants for the New England landscape.

Zones: 4 to 7

Family: Sapindaceae

Type: Deciduous Tree

Height: 25 to 30 ft.

Spread: 25 to 30 ft.

Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade

Soil Conditions: Average, medium, well-drained soil

Bloom Time: April

Bloom Color: Yellowish-green

Native Range: Northeast Chine and Korea.

Image Credits:

• Images 1 (mature form) Gmihail at Serbian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
• Image 2 (samaras) Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Image 3-4 (foliage and woodland form) Ali McEnhill at Stonecrop Gardens, Coldspring, NY
• Image 4 (fall color and trunk) Kaiser 16, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
• Image 5 (Japanese Garden in Moscow) Andrey Korzun, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
• Image 6 (buds) Dan Keck from Ohio, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Image 7 (trunk) Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons