Our growing list of native plant materials includes the vigorous West Coast native, Bigleaf Maple. This maple is especially useful for planting natural areas in its native range. It quickly forms a broad canopy, growing in a broadly oval to rounded shape to a height of 60 feet and spread of 50 feet in about 30 years under normal landscape conditions.

As its name would indicate, the Bigleaf Maple's most interesting feature is its large three to five-lobed leaves that can measure over a foot across. Dark green through the summer, they turn yellow in the fall.

While its native habitat includes moist canyons and streambanks from Alaska to Southern California, Bigleaf Maple flourishes best in cool marine-influenced environments west of the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest. Though it grows too large for the typical home landscape, it's a useful tree for revegetation projects, parks and open areas in temperate climates where there is adequate moisture. Michael Dirr reports having seen a 'prosperous' specimen growing at the Morris Arboretum in Pennsylvania. It is rated hardy to USDA Zone 6.