Sweetgum Tree

Outstanding accent! One of North America's finest and most colorful native species trees for fall color is the showy American Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)! Nature Hills Nursery is proud to grow and sell this majestic national treasure for use in either residential or commercial landscapes!

From a distance, American Sweetgum is a graceful presence. You'll admire the energetic form all year long, with strong, upturned branches on bold display. Young star-shaped leaves add a dazzling green cloak all season. These perfectly noticeable leaves feature personable notches along the margins. The leaves are very aromatic when crushed or bruised!

Sometimes spelled Sweet Gum, and having many names depending on your region, including American Storax, Redgum, Satin-Walnut, Star-Leaved Gum, and Alligatorwood, Sweetgum trees have a lot of character! American Sweetgum leaves turn fiery reds through plum purples, spiced gold and harvest orange to celebrate the end of the season.

Spring brings upright red/green flower clusters that transform into green, and then brown spikey balls. Even if you live in the warmer part of its range, you'll be treated with a reliable fall performance. Over time, you'll even be able to feel good about feeding local songbirds with their famous Sweetgum seed fruit balls.

Planting and Application:

These aren't "cookie-cutter" trees, but rather become a special accent or focal point to relish. With a long history as a great shade and specimen tree for landscape curb appeal, these native trees also have several medicinal qualities and produce fine lumber. They earned their name because the dried sap produced a sweet, chewy treat similar to chewing gum.

Add one as a destination at the end of a planned garden walk. You'll be astounded at the color play in fall...each leaf is draped in a different color! Why not place an outdoor fire pit nearby and include a ring of wood stumps for an annual sing-along?

These special trees look right at home in a park-like corporate campus, as well as maximize the diversity of species in your plantings to create a wise landscaping investment by adding an informal grouping. One planted in your front lawn, with a wide mulched bed to catch the spikey balls that drop, will cast cooling shade and become a prominent feature in your home's landscape all year long!

• Distinctive Star-Shaped Leaves
• Upright, Stately Form - Break-Resistant Branches!
• Fall Color is a Vibrant Mix of Red, Orange, Purple & Yellow
• Grows Quickly & Valuable Timber
• Used for Chewing Gum in the Past
• Native Tree Supports Local Wildlife with Shelter & Food
• Shade, Specimen, Large Accent & Great Native Tree

#ProPlantTips for Care:

Sweetgum Trees need full sun, but young trees can handle some part shade, especially afternoon shade and the dappled shade of an understory setting. Until they outgrow their neighbors that is!

Plant Sweetgum in well-drained native soil with regular moisture throughout their first couple of years in the ground. Once established, however, Sweetgum can tolerate both moist soil and periodic drought, plus they have some salt, alkaline, and clay tolerance as long as it has good drainage. Add a 3-4 inch thick layer of mulch over the soil surface, spread out to the dripline (ends of the branches) but please avoid piling it up against the trunk.

Prune if needed when dormant to remove broken branches, but wait a bit later in the spring (when you see leaves forming) before trimming any live branches. Otherwise, similar to Maple trees, it will result in sticky sap dripping and oozing.

• Upright, Stately Form & Strongest Limbs in Full Sun & Part Shade
• Tolerates Moist Soils & Periodic Drought
• Widely Adaptable to a Wide Range of Well-Drained Soil Conditions
• Pruning Best Done In Spring
• Pest Resistant, Salt & Clay Conditions

Perhaps best of all, American Sweetgum is easy to grow, and puts on height for shade quickly. Order yours from the Nature Hills native tree specialists today!