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    • Pruning Roses
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    • Rose Bloom Balling
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    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
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    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
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    • Grape-hyacinths
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American Sweetgum Tree 
November's Plant of the Month 2022

It's No Shrinking violet.

American Sweetgum
American sweetgum is a bold and colourful shade tree.
Liquidambar styraciflua
Immature trees have an oval canopy.
shade trees
As trees age, their canopy rounds.
Sweet gum husks sweetgum
Green seed husks turn brown and release seeds at maturity.
corky stems
After leaf drop, their odd corky stems are revealed.
cork on sweetgum stems
Corky wings align along stems.
trees with fall colour
Green husks contain may seeds within.
Picture
Inconspicuous flowers emerge in spring before leaves emerge.
Picture
Deep crimson leaves provide contrast to the green seed husks.
Picture
city trees
A row of sweet gum trees line parking lot in North Delta.
Common Name:  American sweetgum
Botanical Name:  Liquidambar styraciflua
Form:    upright with pyramidal canopy that matures to an oval rounded
Family:  Altingiaceae
Genus:  Liquidambar
Species:  styraciflua
Plant Type: deciduous tree
Mature Size:  60’ to 80’ x 40’ to 60’
Growth: medium to fast
Origin:  USA,  Mexico, Central America
Hardiness Zone: 5 to 9
Foliage: deep green, 4-7” wide, glossy, toothed margins, 5-7 pointed, star-shaped lobes, fragrant when crushed, long petioles, brilliant fall colours in hues of orange, purple, red and yellow
Flowers: non-showy, monoecious, chartreuse held in clusters, April, May
Fruit: gum balls, hard, round with bristles, 1-5 inches wide, green mature to brown
Stems:  immature stems bear corky ridges
Exposure:  6 hours of direct sun a day minimum for good fall colour
Soil:  prefers acidic, well-drained
Uses:  lumber, fall colour, shade tree, specimen tree, the gum was used as chewing gum, perfume, herbal remedies, incense, perfume
Propagation:   seeds, softwood cuttings
Pruning:  in winter when dormant, pruning not needed, don’t prune to reduce size, remove dead, diseased etc.
​Problems:  no serious pests, chlorotic in alkaline soils, needs space to grow, gum balls are hazardous to walk on and messy

Comments: 
Sweet gum trees are known for their good bones and brilliant fall colours. Their broad leafy 60’ wide canopies make them suitable shade trees for gardens that have lots of space. They are bold specimens with deeply furrowed grey bark, hence their nickname ‘aligatorwood’. Even the younger stems often have corky growths growing along their length. This gives the trees a unique, albeit, a haunted appearance, but only after the leaves have fallen.

Note that the amount of corky growths on American sweetgum branches differs from tree to tree. Some have none and some may have it on new stems, but it's not uncommon for an entire tree to be covered. 

Sweetgum trees are often mistaken for maples because they both have star shaped foliage and both turn brilliant colours in the fall. As an added bonus, their leaves have a lovely fragrance when handled.
 
Although sweet gums have many desirable qualities, their fruit make it a messy tree. Green spikey 1-to-5-inch husks hold winged seeds inside. Upon maturity in late fall, the husks turn brown and fall from the tree, and unfortunately, they are uncomfortable to walk on.

There are numerous cultivars available:
  • 'Moraine', broad oval shaped canopy, 35’ x 20’
  • ‘Rotundiloba', rounded leaves, 50’ x 30’
  • ‘Silver King’, white leaf margins, 40’ x 30’
  • 'Slender Silhouette', narrow canopy, 40’ x 10’
  • 'Worplesdon', pyramidal canopy, 40’ x 25’
What’s in a name? Sweetgum trees are aptly named as they produce a therapeutic and pleasant-smelling sap used in teas, pharmaceuticals, soaps, glues and yes - chewing gum. Their golden sap is also referred to as liquid-amber, hence its botanical name Liquidambar. 
Picture
Trees have a distinctive look when not in leaf.
medicinal plants
Sweet gums often have different shades of colours displayed at the same time.
liquid amber

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  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
  • Garden Club Events