A tree at the edge of a parking lot is the center of much attention at the WSU College of Education this week. While most eyes have just turned admiringly to the spot of fiery color, finance budget manager Bev Rhoades pursued her curiosity.
“What kind of maple is that, red or sugar?” she asked campus planner Cynthia Arbour.
Arbour’s reply: “It is a red maple (Acer rubrum). We actually have very few sugar maples (Acer saccharum) on campus, though recently we have begun to plant a few more.
“We have tended to plant red maples because of their Cougar colors – crimson color (in the fall) and silver-grey trunks. Sugars also have nice red color in fall, but they tend toward the orange-red shades and their trunks are more grey-brown.
“Both reds and sugars are winter-hardy in this area. Just keep in mind that they grow to around 80 feet high and 40 feet wide, so give them lots of room.”
“Red maples are not the only “Cougar-colored” plants that we use on the campus,” Arbour said. Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is a commonly used shrub selected for its year-round red leaves.
“You can’t miss it in the center islands along Stadium Way,” she said.
Another regularly-planted crimson shrub is the Burning bush (Euonymous alatus), whose leaves turn bright red in fall. Recently, red-tipped ornamental grasses were planted along Library Road between Abelson and Fulmer halls.
“All of these plants were chosen at least in part because of their ‘Cougar colors,’” Arbour said.