Red Maple Flowers

     Driving through New Holland, Pennsylvania today, April 2, 2019, I noticed red blooms on planted red maple trees along streets and on lawns.  Red maple blossoms are part of the beauties of late March through the first half of April in this part of the United States.  The red flowers of this kind of tree create a lovely red hue among the twigs in the trees' canopies.
     Red maple trees are native to the eastern half of the United States and are best adapted to moist soil in wooded bottomlands.  But red maples are also commonly planted for several reasons.  They have pretty blooms in April, attractive red seeds and green leaves in summer, striking red foliage in fall and crimson buds in winter.  They are also handsomely shaped the year around, provide shade in summer, and younger trees have appealingly smooth bark that is most noticeable in winter.
     But their flowers are their greatest beauties in April.  Female blooms hang in little clusters and are longer and sturdier than male ones.  Male blossoms hang in small clusters, with yellow, pollen-laden tips.  Male flowers are shorter and more fluffy-looking than female ones.
     Planted crocuses and daffodils bloom when planted red maple trees do, adding to the beauty of lawns.  And at this time, groups of American robins and purple grackles perch among the red-colored blossoms of red maples.  Male robins sing beautifully from red maples in April, especially at dusk.  All this is part of the beauties of spring on suburban lawns.
     However, I think stands of wild red maples in damp, wooded bottomlands are the most beautiful, particularly in April and October, when they sport red flowers, and leaves, respectively.  The red canopies of many red maples growing together are pretty in themselves.  And those canopies identify moist ground, even when the tree tops are seen from a distance.   
     Clumps of red blossoms on red maple trees umbrella a variety of damp, woodland floor plants and wildlife.  Skunk cabbage hoods and leaves, shining club moss, which are fern allies and a  variety of mosses are some of those plant species. 
     The ancient, blended concerts of peeping male spring peeper frogs and trilling male American toads in shallow pools and ponds under stands of sunlight-soaked, blooming red maples in April are joyously entertaining, particularly during pleasant, sunny evenings  Those primeval calls bring the genders of each species of tailless amphibians together for spawning in those inches-deep waters.
     Meanwhile, a pair or two of bugling Canada geese might wing over the maples' red canopies while a pair of wood ducks looks for a nesting cavity in one of the larger trees.  And at dusk, off and on through the night, an American woodcock or two might poke their long beaks into the soft, damp ground to pull out earthworms and other invertebrates to eat.   
     The red of red maple canopies, and the plants and animals among and under them, add much beauty to April in the northeastern United States.  Those red maples are well worth getting out to see.