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Nonmaple maples are fools for flowering

Here's today's garden riddle: When is a maple not really a maple? When it's a flowering maple (Abutilon), that's when. 

Lord only knows how the flowering maple got its name, because abutilon would never be confused with a maple tree. OK, OK, some folks think the leaves of a flowering maple look like a Japanese maple leaf, but perhaps those are the same people who can read tea leaves, because I can't see it. For me, the name of this plant is one of those inexplicable oddities of the gardening world, of which there are many. 

Other than its common name, this is one uncommon plant. Cistus Design Nursery of Sauvie Island offers about 75 varieties of flowering maples, but many other nurseries carry them, too. The flowers on these maples resemble a hibiscus or hollyhock. You'd swear somebody made them out of crepe paper and pinned them all over the plant. Very cool looking. 

Cistus co-owner Parker Sanderson says flat out, "They bloom forever." 

In mild winters (like our last five), the flowering maples bloom all year. Sanderson and his partner, Sean Hogan, grow varieties that most of our winters won't kill. (Even so, to prepare for the "big one," Sanderson takes out a little insurance policy on his favorites, which we'll get back to in a minute.) 

Sanderson says that even in a colder year, the plants will flower through Thanksgiving, then start again around Valentine's Day. Let me say here and now, I like that. 

The flowers come in white, yellow, orange, pink, red, burgundy and a variety named "Red Heart" with a bright yellow petticoat that dangles under a tiny red hoop skirt of a flower. My favorite. 

Given all of these worthy attributes, fall is a wonderful time to plant one or two flowering maples. Dwarf varieties won't even grow knee high, but they pump out more flowers than leaves, given a little fertilizer. 

Flowering maples also can grow tall and gangly. Sanderson stuns visitors with the flowering maple called "Red Veined Orange" (don't you love that name?) growing 25 feet up a prune tree at his home in Northeast Portland. 

"People actually ask us if we decorated our tree with little Chinese lanterns," he says. "Sorry, we're just not that detail-oriented. 

"Gardeners are always stunned at how successful they are with flowering maples," he adds. 

I can attest to that. This is one easy, easy plant. Just give them normal (compost-rich) soil and regular water, sprinkle on some fertilizer, and you're good to go. They are best planted out of the wind as much as possible, in a protected spot. 

My friends at Lonesomeville Garden in Southeast Portland have a couple of spectacular flowering maples that they either bring inside the house or put in a cold frame for the winter. 

Sanderson reports that he "takes an insurance sample." This involves snipping off the top 4 or 5 inches of a plant, putting the sticks in some potting soil near a window and watering them once in a while, just in case the big one comes and a backup is needed.

Flowering maple is one plant that can win friends and influence people. Whether its common name fits doesn't matter to me, as long as one or two fit nicely into my garden.