Deciduous treeSmall spaceSpecimenShade gardenPollinatorsNative

Vine Maple

Acer circinatum

A small Pacific Northwest native maple with twisting, layered branches and leaves that turn yellow, orange and red in fall. It suits a shady border, a woodland edge or a patio. Give it part shade and steady moisture: it won't take hot, dry sites, and heavy pruning spoils its natural shape.

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Vine Maple: flowers — Photo: Walter Siegmund, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Mature size: 20 × 17 ft; 6 × 5.5 m, tall × wide
Hardiness: Zones 4a–7b; USDA
Sun: Part sun to full shade
Water: Moist
Blooms: Apr–May

Vine Maple at its mature size

A mature Vine Maple grows 10 to 30 feet tall and 3 to 20 feet wide, taller than most people.

Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.

Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Calscape.

Photos

Vine Maple: flowers — Flowers · Walter Siegmund, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

Vine Maple: fall color — Fall color · Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vine Maple: detail — Detail · Walter Siegmund (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Vine Maple: detail — Detail · El Grafo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Growing Vine Maple

Grows well in: The Pacific Northwest.
Good for: Small space, specimen, shade garden, and pollinators
Leaves: Drops its leaves in winter
Native to: Pacific Northwest and Northern California

Spacing

VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Vine Maple, that’s about 17 ft apart, center to center.

Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.

Other maples

Japanese Maple

Vine Maple

Autumn Blaze Maple

Red Maple

All drawn to the same scale.