Sweet Gum

Sweet Gum

Liquidambar styraciflua


Plant Facts:
Mature Height
60 - 80 feet
Mature Spread
40 - 50 feet
Soil Type
Widely Adaptable
Moisture
Widely Adaptable
Mature Form
Pyramidal to Conical
Growth Rate
Moderate to Fast
Sun Exposure
Full Sun - Partial Sun
Flower Color
Insignificant
Fall Color
Orange, Scarlet, Purple
Foliage Color
Green
5-9



Product Description:

The Sweetgum tree, Liquidambar styraciflua, is a rapid growing shade tree usually grown for its excellent fall color. It has an upright pyramidal growth habit in its youth and then becomes spreading, irregular and open as it ages. The star shaped lustrous dark green foliage turns a spectacular fall color, often a combination of green, yellow, orange, red and purple foliage, but sometimes solid crimson, burgundy or scarlet.

The Sweetgum tree usually does not flower or fruit for the first 15 to 20 years. It prefers full sun and can grow to 60 feet high and 40 feet wide. The Sweetgum tree has landscape value as a shade, specimen or focal point tree. Sweetgum trees are an excellent lawn, park, or street tree. Birds like the seeds it produces. The bark has a corky appearance. It has spectacular colors, is fast growing, and has great shade.


1 size
  • Item # 324 - 1003641

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    $26.95 each

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Customer Reviews


extremely adaptable  
Reviewer: Calfornia mountaingirl, 8/22/2006 12:59:01 AM
This is the most gorgeous tree. I have seen it potted for the front porch (stays small), seen it in pastures, seen it in 6 of snow as well as in the desert. As long as it has enough water, this tree just grows! And as for fall colors, breathtaking!

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Good!  
Reviewer: Turdburgler, 9/30/2006 7:04:36 PM
I think that the Sweet Gum tree is a really awesome tree! It was somewhat easy to plant and looks really good in my yard!

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sweet gum tree sap droppings  
Reviewer: Mike, 4/2/2007 12:17:40 PM
My sweet gum tree which I just had removed dripped a black sap/resin all over my house and car.

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Homeowner  
Reviewer: floslezak, 5/2/2007 10:31:39 AM
This is the worst tree I have ever owner. The thorny little balls are the pits. I spend time raking and pickint up the little thorny balls. I just spent money having the rascal cut down and hauled away. Dead limbs also fall on my lawn from it.

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Sweet Gum Tree  
Reviewer: Saw, 5/8/2007 4:22:25 PM
I enjoyed the article. There should have been pictures of the little balls also. This is the second year that my tree has produced them. I use them to decorate my front door. I think that my tree is beatuful!

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Sweet Gum Tree  
Reviewer: gwen, 6/13/2007 7:49:17 AM
Have one in my front yard and it is beautiful...........But you should see the little thorny balls each year. They are horable and this past year was the worse ever. How can one get rid of them. Thinking very seriously of haveing it cut down. Got an offer yesterday of $800 to cut and remove.

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Wonderful Shade  
Reviewer: Herb, 9/29/2007 7:50:59 AM
I have four Sweet Gum trees on my property at locations approx forty yards apart. In the hot summer, its very hard to find better shade. In the winter there is no leaves so the sun can get through to areas like my deck. When the gumballs and leaves fall, it can get a little messy but the shade the trees provide in the hot summers make the rakeing and picking up of gumballs all the more worthwhile. Recommend keeping them well spaced and away from taller trees when planting so that they can spread otherwise they will grow toward sun or just very straight up.

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for all complainers  
Reviewer: Niki, 12/14/2007 10:35:11 AM
u can read about the tree and find out about the balls it is a beutiful tree and if u read about it then didnt like it and got it anyway that is ur fault

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I detest this tree  
Reviewer: planter, 4/10/2008 7:28:14 PM
This is one of the worst trees to have on or near your property. The "fruit" (we call them "sticky balls" is prolific and drops at all times of the year. It is dangerous. One can easily twist one's ankle when one steps on these sticky balls. Our neighbor has one, and the best thing that has happened to it is losing several large boughs when another tree in the neighborhood fell in a storm. These hazardous sticky balls fall all over our lawn and driveway, and we need to spend our time and energy cleaning them up. The sticky balls are also very unsightly. I cannot believe people would consider planting this tree!

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Good and bad of Sweet Gum  
Reviewer: Katesgarden7, 10/8/2008 4:57:16 PM
As a child I always had the best, and most beautiful leaf specimens at school from our Sweet Gum tree. I enjoyed the spungy bark, the leaves, and the shade. I did not enjoy the spiney balls, yes, they hurt when stepped on with bare feet. Yes, like most trees it drips a sappy resin. It also shed branches and twigs for various reasons, as do most trees. However, if and when I ever have a place to plant one - I will. They are truly a beautiful tree. I strongly suggest research be done, and information be known, about any tree, flower, shrub, or vine before being purchased and planted. Some things require upkeep, and others do not. Never plant a Sweet Gum tree where you must walk, or drive a vehicle. The leaves make wonderful compost for the garden. Sweet Gum trees are beautiful and useful.

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Nasty little tree  
Reviewer: Tygermane, 6/25/2009 9:02:48 PM
When my mom first bought our house, our sweet gum tree was great! Beautiful, the folliage came later than all the other trees and fell later as well. Then she moved and rented her house. I bought it from her a few years a ago and couldn't beleive how tall it got and how skinny it still was! The first year I lived here after raking up those leaves, I saw the little seed pods. They are hard to rake up, they get burried in the ground so you can't find them all and then come spring/summer, you can't go barefoot in the area because you may step on one of the pods you missed. I wish the original owner's had done some research into this tree. I do love the shade it provides, and it is beautiful, but there is also a non-"fruit bearing" version of this tree. I really wish this is the one they would have gotten. One thing I do like about the tree, is when the leaves fall, they aren't spread all over the yard so raking up is pretty easy (aside from the evil seed pods that drop I mean).

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Sweet Gum Trees  
Reviewer: Robin Harrelson, 9/8/2009 6:37:38 AM
We purchased our property 14 years ago and have a sweet gum tree beside our driveway. I'm not sure when it was planted, but it was only about 10 tall when we bought our home. The tree is gorgeous and we love the shade that it provides, and as we have a small property with only three other trees on our lot we were initially very happy with it. HOWEVER - it is now huge, drops "gumballs" everywhere (and they are dangerous to step on whether barefooted or not), it coats over half of our four-car driveway with sap and because of the (otherwise blessed) shade from the tree and the heat & humidity (in South Carolina) it facilitates the growth of fungus on our driveway. I love trees and will not cut them down, but we have to have the driveway pressure washed annually and over the past 8 years or so, the tree roots have completely buckled our driveway - if we ever want to sell our house we will have to replace the it (the driveway). But I now know, from experince, not to plant any tree next to a driveway and to keep sweet gum trees away from high traffic areas : )

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majestic  
Reviewer: whitelghter491, 10/16/2009 6:43:48 PM
I can see why the sweetgum fruit (called gumballs by some) would be a nuisance to some people. However, I have a sentimental attachment to this kind of tree because there was a huge sweetgum in our front yard when I was a little kid. For some reason when I was a toddler I started calling the gumballs "charlie pops". I have no idea where I got the name from, but it seemed appropriate, and that's what my parents call them to this day. I think sweetgum trees are majestic, and could easily be mistaken for oaks if it weren't for the shape of the leaves. However, the sweetgum tree in our front yard was really tall, and even the lowest branches were so high up you needed binoculars to see what shape the leaves were.

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