Sycamore 'Brilliantissimum'

Sun

Full sun or partial shade; light afternoon shade helps protect the pale young leaves in hotter locations.

Water

Water regularly while establishing. Once established, water deeply during prolonged dry spells, especially on light soils.

Soil

Moist but well-drained soil, including clay, loam and chalk; tolerates acidic to alkaline conditions. Avoid persistently waterlogged ground.

Height

15-25 ft (4.5-7.5 m)

Spread

12-20 ft (3.7-6 m)

Foliage

Broad, five-lobed leaves emerge shrimp-pink, change to creamy yellow with green mottling, then become green through summer. Autumn colour is usually yellow and often modest.

Growth

Slow

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Wildlife

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Very tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   7 ft (2 m)

2. After 1 year

   7 ft (2.1 m)

3. After 2 years

   7 ft (2.3 m)

4. After 3 years

   8 ft (2.4 m)

5. After 5 years

   9 ft (2.6 m)

About 32 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Invasive in

the US and Australia

In the garden

Spreads vigorously: plan to contain it.

Growth rate

Slow

• Plant with the root flare at soil level and allow space for the mature crown.
• Water deeply during dry weather for the first two growing seasons.
• Apply a 2-3 in (5-8 cm) layer of organic mulch, keeping it clear of the trunk.
• Feed only if growth is poor or a soil test shows a deficiency; avoid routine high-nitrogen feeding.
• Stake only if needed on an exposed site, and remove the support once the roots hold the tree firmly.
• Remove shoots arising below the graft and any vigorous shoots with plain green spring foliage.

Pruning. Prune only when needed, preferably in late summer while the tree is in leaf, to reduce sap bleeding. Remove dead, damaged or crossing branches and rootstock shoots; avoid topping or repeatedly cutting back the crown.

Autumn

Plant while the soil is workable, water thoroughly and mulch the root area.

Late winter

Check ties, stakes and the graft union; loosen any ties that are rubbing or becoming tight.

Spring

Watch emerging leaves for frost damage and check for shoots growing from below the graft.

Late spring

Pull unwanted sycamore seedlings while they are small and easy to remove.

Summer

Water young trees deeply in dry spells and check pale leaves for scorch.

Late summer

Carry out essential light pruning and remove any reverted, plain-green growth.

• Use as a specimen in a lawn where the changing spring foliage can be seen clearly.
• Place against dark evergreen shrubs to make the pink and cream young leaves stand out.
• Include in a mixed tree-and-shrub border with space for its rounded crown.
• Underplant with spring bulbs and shade-tolerant perennials for interest beneath the summer canopy.

Garden styles it suits: English country, Traditional, Woodland, Pastel border, Arts and Crafts and Grand estate.

Plant it with: Snowdrops, Daffodils, Hellebores, Hardy geraniums, Japanese forest grass and Yew.

Wildlife: The flowers provide pollen and nectar for insects, and the canopy offers shelter and nesting sites for birds. Leaves support various insects, although this is not a native tree in North America or Australia.

• Leaf scorch or late-frost damage can brown the young foliage. Keep the root zone evenly moist and choose a sheltered position away from frost pockets; damaged leaves do not recover, but later growth may be healthy.
• Aphids can cause curled leaves and sticky honeydew. Encourage natural predators and wash accessible colonies off with water rather than routinely spraying the tree.
• Tar spot produces black blotches on leaves, usually without seriously harming the tree. Collect fallen leaves where practical; fungicide is rarely justified.
• Rootstock shoots or reverted branches can outgrow the coloured crown. Remove shoots below the graft promptly and cut reverted branches back to their point of origin.

Seeds, seedlings and leaves can contain hypoglycin A, which can cause severe, often fatal atypical myopathy in horses. Do not plant near horse paddocks, and prevent windblown seeds and leaves from reaching grazing areas. It is not generally known to be toxic to cats, dogs or people through ordinary garden contact, but its seeds and seedlings should not be eaten.

Where it spreads. The species spreads by windblown seed and is invasive in parts of the northeastern United States and southeastern Australia, including Victoria and Tasmania; it is also an environmental weed in New Zealand. It can seed aggressively in Britain and Ireland. This cultivar is not guaranteed sterile, so remove seedlings and check local planting guidance.

• London plane (Platanus × acerifolia)

  London plane has alternate leaves, conspicuously patchy bark and hanging round seed balls. Sycamore maple has opposite leaves and paired winged seeds.

• Norway maple (Acer platanoides)

  Norway maple usually has more sharply pointed leaf lobes and milky sap from a freshly broken leaf stalk; sycamore has coarser leaf teeth and clear sap.

• Sycamore 'Prinz Handjery' (Acer pseudoplatanus 'Prinz Handjery')

  Both have pink young foliage, but 'Prinz Handjery' typically has a conspicuous purple underside to its young leaves, unlike the paler undersides of 'Brilliantissimum'.

Acer is the Latin name for maple, pseudoplatanus means 'false plane', referring to the plane-like leaves, and 'Brilliantissimum' means 'most brilliant'.

Propagation. Usually propagated by grafting or budding onto Acer pseudoplatanus rootstock. Seedlings will not reliably retain the cultivar's pink spring foliage or compact habit.

Accepted botanical name

Acer pseudoplatanus

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym and North Caucasus.

Measured

Soil pH 5.8 to 7. Average height 2155 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.