State Street™ Miyabe Maple

State Street™ Miyabe Maple has a uniform, broad-pyramidal shape with excellent branching characteristics. Thick, clean dark green foliage holds its color late in the season then rapidly turns a pleasing soft yellow in autumn. Extremely tough, State Street™ Miyabe Maple is an excellent, hardy alternative to the similarly shaped (but less adaptable) Hedge Maple (Acer campestre).

A Chicagoland Grows introduction.

Acer miyabei State Street™ is yet another beautiful medium to large growing maple that is well suited as a shade or specimen tree for commercial or residential landscapes. As State Street™ Miyabe Maple ages, it develops rough, corky, gray-orangey-brown fissured bark that remains a point of interest year-round.

State Street™ Miyabe Maple is an excellent choice for a park, roadside boulevard, or part of an allée.

State Street™ provides habitat to birds and wildlife in its canopy. While its seeds may provide some food to wildlife, State Street™ isn’t of any significant importance to our native species.

Like all newly establishing trees, State Street™ should be watered weekly for the first year. Once established, the tree can tolerate wet or dry soils. The trunk, although corky, should be protected in winter months from deer damage in areas where deer are frequently found. Pruning should be done in winter when the tree is dormant. Avoid pruning during spring as maples will ‘bleed’ sap.

Its medium leaves are easy to clean up in fall and its samaras are not as numerous as those of Norway Maple or Silver Maple. Its unique texture stands out in winter compared to other maples.

State Street™ Miyabe Maple may be susceptible to Verticillium Wilt when stressed. Otherwise it has no serious insect or disease issues.

Miyabe Maple is native to a few scattered locations in Hokkaido, Japan, and is endangered due to habitat loss. Its name comes from Professor Kingo Miyabe, the Japanese botanist who first discovered the tree.

State Street™ Miyabe Maple was first grown in the US at the Morton Arboretum.  It was selected from a tree planted at the Morton Arboretum in 1929. The original tree is still standing and about 60′ tall. The plant has excellent tolerance to alkaline soils and can grow in a range of moisture levels. Heat and drought-tolerant, this is an excellent choice for tough urban sites.

State Street™ Miyabe Maple can be paired with a wide variety of suitable companion plants. Smaller ornamental shrubs could be planted around or near the base of the tree for additional color and interest throughout the year. Consider plants such as Kodiak® Orange bush honeysuckle, Bush Cinquefoil, Hummingbird Clethra, or Winecraft Black® Smokebush.

There are seemingly endless options for perennials that could be planted underneath this maple; some fun suggestions include variegated Solomon’s seal, snakeroot, bugloss, and lungwort.