Origin and Hardiness
Discovered in Eastern Canada in July 2002 and selected from a group of 6 random seedlings. Regal Petticoat Maple has undergone rigorous testing to verify it’s hardiness, soil adaptability, disease (Rhytisma acerinum fungus for example), pest susceptibility, salt and drought tolerance throughout North America since discovery.
The species pseudoplatanus is noted for its tolerance of wind, urban pollution and salt spray, which makes it a popular tree for planting in cities, along roads treated with salt in winter, and in coastal localities. It is cultivated and widely naturalised north of its native range in northern Europe, notably in the British Isles and Scandinavia north to Tromso, Norway Reykjavik, Iceland; and Torshavn on the Faroe Islands. It now occurs throughout the British Isles, having been introduced in the 17th century.
In North America, escapes from cultivation are most common in New England, New York City and the Pacific Northwest. It is planted in many temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere, most commonly in New Zealand and on the Falkland Islands.
“I have a piece of good news to brighten your day. On Monday, I was at our valley farm and looked at the 1 year old Tunpetti (Regal Petticoat Maple). We had an early, hard freeze (by Oregon standards). Spaethii (the ONLY other commercially produced bi-color maple tree) shows considerable freeze damage on the trunk which will kill a number of trees, but there is no damage on Tunpetti. This is confirmation of your hardiness claim from a very different climate and growing condition I really like to see confirmation from different environments, as it indicates broad adaptability of the cultivar.”
J. F. Schmidt contract grower
Production
Production facilities for Regal Petticoat Maple are currently located in Oregon USA, and Ontario Canada with further production scheduled to commence in Central and Eastern United States as well as Eastern and Western Canada. Our production is set to increase our numbers to several hundred thousand 20 gallon Regal Petticoat Maple trees by the mid 2000’s. We are also exploring the possibility of producing a larger caliper commercial grade tree as well as a smaller cash and carry grade. Because of Regal Petticoat Maple’s growth habit we will also consider a multi stemmed form to be used as screening and wind breaks. In addition to our in house plans Regal Petticoat Maple is part of a joint Canada/United States departments of highways study to verify Regal Petticoat’s salt spray and soil saturation tolerance.
Colours
An exciting improvement over Acer Pseudoplatanus Spaethii this seedling discovered in eastern Canada in 2002 has shown superior leaf colouration in spring, summer (dark glossy green with a deep velvety purple underside), and an incredible fall colour : leaves turning aspen yellow on top and bright magenta pink on the underside accented with with reds, oranges, and salmons. Great for urban and commercial settings this salt tolerant variety matures to a beautiful specimen that provides the landscape with a tree of superior disease resistance.