Acer × freemanii Freeman maple

Freeman maple at Ford Plaza. Sairus Patel, 29 Oct 2024

Freeman maple near Beckman Center. Sairus Patel, 3 Nov 2024

A hybrid of red maple and silver maple, valued for the autumn brilliance and branching structure of the former parent and the greater tolerance of cold and dryness of the latter. Several encircle the lawn in Ford Plaza. Six specimens of ‘Armstrong’, a broadly columnar female cultivar, stand near the entrance to the Beckman Center, three on each side, with three younger Freeman maples, ‘Armstrong’ or similar, planted opposite them in 2015. In the Stanford Research Park, four Freeman maples serve as street trees at 855 California Avenue; another grows at 975, just up from the red maple there. Compare them to the silver maple at 890.

Red maples were once slated to replace the trees in Palo Alto’s California Avenue business district, which was clearcut in 2009. Arborists and others pushed back successfully, pointing out the species’ distaste for dry heat and drought. Sterling silver linden was chosen as the dominant deciduous tree, with a scattering of Freeman maples – of trade name Autumn Blaze – inserted for continuity, as around the intersection with Birch Street, matching an older survivor still standing at 201 California Avenue.