Bigleaf Maple is an amazing native tree. My first recollections of this plant are in the park near our house in Kent, Washington, where these trees were part of the woodland, along with Douglas fir, Western Hemock, and Western Red Cedar.

Our nextdoor neighbor here in North Seattle had a big specimen that had been topped at one point and had sent up some big suckers from the base, one of which became a good sized tree of its own. When a new house was built on that property, the tree was killed–only a big stump remains that chickadees nest in.

Our yard isn’t large enough to host a full-sized Bigleaf Maple, but I keep a few saplings around and just prune them back every year so any fauna that is dependent on this plant’s leaves can find some in my yard.

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This year, powdery mildew came early and has attacked my maple trees, but I just pruned them back and new shoots will be up in a few weeks, hopefully sans mildew.

My 2020 plans for these trees are to keep them pruned back and enjoy their impressive leaves–they can be up to a food across!