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American Sycamore

Platanus occidentalis

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$16.95 each

Buy 4 or more $15.26 each

Buy 25 or more $14.41 each

Item # 97 - 996970

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Grows in Zones 4-9

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American Sycamore Details:

Plant Facts

Mature Height	70 - 100 feet
Mature Spread	60 - 80 feet
Soil Type	Well Drained
Moisture	Prefers Moist
Mature Form	Broad, Round
Growth Rate	Moderate to Fast
Sun Exposure	Full Sun
Flower Color	Not Showy
Fall Color	Tan to Brown
Foliage Color	Green
Zones	4-9

The American Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis, is a very adaptabe and rugged tree. American Sycamore trees are fast growing, large shade trees with a massive trunk and a have a wide-spreading open crown of large crooked branches. This deciduous tree has a smooth almost white bark when mature. The bark will flake off in irregular thin pieces which give American Sycamore trees an impressive mottled appearance.

Sycamore trees have light green colored leaves that turn golden in the fall providing contrasting fall color. The American Sycamore has moderate water requirements and exhibits a moderate tolerance to salt and alkali soils. It is a very popular city tree for adverse urban conditions and soils.

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Reviews:

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Annoying, 8/24/2006 1:55:06 AM
Reviewer: Sissy
I have these trees in front of and behind my rental home .Although they provide great shade in the summer, I find these trees to be annoying because they have little seed pods that drop down and explode into hundreds of small "needles" . They get tracked into the house constantly(on shoes, socks, grocery bags ...). They stick in the carpet and make ones life miserable. If you like to vacuum everyday, and enjoy raking leaves, then this is definately the tree for you!
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sycamore, 10/19/2006 9:42:34 PM
Reviewer: --
this tree is great ! it provides wonderful shade, beautiful leaves at all times of year AND because it sheds bark and becomes ghostly white provides wonderful story telling material.
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Beautiful tree., 1/30/2007 12:25:42 AM
Reviewer: lois9052
Sycamore trees are stately and are lovely shade trees that have the most beautiful bark after they becomes older. The lumber from these trees make the prettiest furniture as the grain of the wood is unique.
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Lovely tree but be aware, 6/24/2007 3:18:24 PM
Reviewer: pandiculator
Until we moved a couple of years ago, we enjoyed a wonderful sicamore that was over 110 years old. I would not have traded it for anything, because it was georgous. However, you do need to know that they constantly shed twigs and small branches which makes it laborious to mow the lawn. Also, the leaves are huge so in the fall, there are mounds and mounds of them. We used to have a neighbor who would rake them all out of his yard and put them back in ours! :)
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Wear helmet while mowing, 7/10/2007 8:15:24 PM
Reviewer: Stonehouse
I have 3 very old sycamore trees and would love to see them gone. 147 bags of leaves my first fall...their larger thand dinner plates. And the branches...OMG...constantly falling, and I am not talking twigs, in spite of the hundreds I spend on :cutting out the dead wood. These things are enourmous..I fear for my life on a windy day!!! Beautiful funiture is yours if you can cut them down! Heck, the wood does not burn well either.
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N.A., 9/9/2007 9:05:06 PM
Reviewer: billy
We have one in our yard and I really like it, the leaves are large and can be mowed to nothing easily. It grows fast. Its probably 30 yrs old. Some sticks fall, but not like others have talked about - may be due to young age. Not a lot of limbs on the tree (compared to Willow Oak) - looks stately. During the fall the leaves dry and hang on for a while and sound neat rustling in the wind.
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Excellent Tree! - Here's Why -, 11/14/2007 8:12:13 AM
Reviewer: skate
The gotgeous sycamore grows to stately height, and can cool a whole house in hot weather. Its prettier than any other tree - simply elegant bark, lovely rustling leaves...which, though large, are SO EASY to clean up in autumn....if you run over the dry leaves with a mower, they DISAPPEAR! Ive never seen any other trees leaves clean up so easily. Yes, they drop seed pods in the fall...but what tree doesnt? - and they are light and easy to pick up. The sycamore has no "spring flower" drop like many other trees. I hear about twigs dropping but in our trees, they are relatively few compared to other native hardwoods. Very drought resistant, wind tolerant, wet soil tolerant...and nothing will look so gorgeous year round. Get two: plant one due East and West of your home for fantastic cool summer shade. We live in an area where sycamores were planted as memorials along the highway to boys and men killed in World War I, and these 100-year-old trees still grace the roadways so beautifully, majestic and tall. I never see big branches fall on any of them. We have several in our yard...they are my FAVORITE tree, by FAR. Plant one in honor of someone, or even for Earth day...your sycamore will be a wonderful tribute. And they make GREAT trees to hang a swing from their big horizontal branches. I cant say enough good things about them.
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Awesome!!!, 1/24/2008 9:13:14 PM
Reviewer: IloveSPIDERZ
This tree is the BEST if you are looking to plant a tree for shade. When I first got it, it grows up to 6-7 feet a year. But thats not all! The way the leaves are; easy to clean, and the wonderful scent they produce on hot summer days. And in the winter, the molted tree bark and the seed balls that hang would attract anyones attention. Yeah, so what if a few twigs fall. I dont find them nearly as annoying as Catalpa or Poplar. This is a really great tree that I would recomend planting in a BIG SPACEY YARD!!!
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