Field maple is Britain's only native maple, and it is one of the best plants you can choose for a country-style hedge. It clips well, grows on heavy clay and thin chalk alike, feeds a wide range of insects and finishes the year with a blaze of clear yellow leaves.
We sell it mainly as hedging, so most of this guide is about planting and maintaining a field maple hedge. If you have room for a tree, the later sections explain how to grow it as a neat, rounded specimen that suits even a fairly small garden.
Field maple (Acer campestre) at a glance
- Botanical name Acer campestre
- Common name Field maple, hedge maple
- Plant type Native deciduous tree, widely used for hedging
- Hardiness RHS H6 (down to about -20°C)
- Height and spread As a tree, 8 to 12m or more tall and 4 to 8m wide over many years. As a hedge, kept at 1.2 to 3m
- Flowering Small yellow-green flower clusters in April and May, followed by winged seeds, often tinged red
- Foliage Small lobed leaves, sometimes flushed pink or bronze when young, mid-green in summer, butter yellow in autumn
- Position Full sun or partial shade, copes with exposure
- Soil Almost any soil, very good on chalk and clay, tolerates dry and alkaline ground
- Good for Native and mixed hedges, wildlife, small gardens as a tree, windbreaks
Why choose field maple for a hedge
Field maple is tough, quick to establish and responds well to trimming, producing dense twiggy growth from low down. It sits happily beside hawthorn, hazel, blackthorn and dogwood in a mixed native hedge, adding a softer leaf shape and the best autumn colour of the group.
Its leaves host many moth caterpillars and aphids, which in turn feed nesting birds. The spring flowers are visited by bees, and the dense branches give cover all year, even after the leaves fall.
Planting a field maple hedge
The best and cheapest time to plant is the bare-root season, from November to March, whenever the ground is not frozen or waterlogged. Pot-grown plants can go in at any time of year as long as you water them through dry weather.
- Clear a strip about 60cm wide of grass and weeds before planting.
- For a thick hedge, plant a staggered double row with 5 plants per metre.
- For a lighter hedge, a single row with 3 plants per metre is enough.
- Plant at the depth of the soil mark on the stems and firm the soil well with your heel.
- Water in and spread a mulch or lay a weed membrane to cut down competition.
Cutting back to build a dense base
Straight after planting, cut each young plant back by about a third to a half. This encourages branching near the ground and stops the hedge becoming leggy and gappy at the bottom.
In the second winter, trim the new growth back by a third again, along with any long side shoots. After that you can let the hedge gain height steadily, trimming the sides each year to keep it thick.
Trimming an established hedge
Field maple hedges usually need one cut a year, though a formal garden hedge can take two. Trim from late summer into winter, once birds have finished nesting, and avoid the main breeding season from March to August.
Shape the hedge so it is slightly wider at the bottom than at the top, letting light reach the lower branches. Older, overgrown hedges can be cut back hard in winter, as field maple regrows strongly from old wood.
Water and feeding in the early years
Newly planted whips need watering in dry spells during their first two summers, especially on light soils. In the drier east, including our part of Lincolnshire, spring droughts can catch young hedges out.
Once established, field maple is drought-tolerant and rarely needs feeding. Keeping the base clear of weeds and grass for the first few years helps far more than fertiliser.
Mixing field maple with other hedging
A hedge of pure field maple looks tidy and uniform, but blending it with other natives gives more flowers, berries and year-round interest. A classic mix is around 50 to 60 percent hawthorn, with field maple, hazel, blackthorn, dog rose and holly making up the rest.
Plant in small groups of three to five of each species rather than strict alternation, which looks more natural as the hedge matures. Holly or privet in the mix adds some evergreen cover through winter.
Growing field maple as a small tree
Left to grow, field maple forms a rounded, compact tree that eventually reaches 8 to 12m or more, though it is slow enough to suit a medium garden for many years. It tolerates urban pollution and is a popular street tree.
Choose a feathered or standard tree, plant it in winter and secure it with a short stake for the first two years. Remove crossing or competing branches to form a clear leader, and lift the crown gradually by taking off low side shoots. For more choices, browse our trees collection.
Pruning timing and pests to look out for
Like other maples, field maple bleeds sap if pruned in spring as the buds break. Do any structural pruning on trees between late summer and midwinter, when the sap flow is low.
Few problems trouble it seriously. Aphids can coat leaves with sticky honeydew in summer, powdery mildew sometimes whitens foliage in dry weather, and small red gall mites form pimples on the leaves without harming the plant.
Questions about Field maple (Acer campestre)
How fast does a field maple hedge grow?
Field maple typically grows 30 to 60cm a year once established, and faster in good soil. A hedge planted from bare-root whips can form a useful screen of 1.2 to 1.5m within three to five years.
Is field maple evergreen?
No, it is deciduous and drops its leaves in autumn after turning yellow. A clipped field maple hedge still gives some winter screening thanks to its dense, twiggy branches.
How far apart should field maple hedging be planted?
Plant 5 per metre in a staggered double row for a dense, stockproof hedge, or 3 per metre in a single row for a lighter garden hedge. Allow about 30cm between the two rows.
Can you keep a field maple tree small?
Yes. It responds well to pruning and can be kept as a small multi-stemmed tree or even coppiced every few years. Prune in late summer to midwinter to avoid sap bleeding.
A field maple hedge is a long-term gift to your garden and the wildlife around it, with golden colour every autumn. Explore our shrubs collection for hedging partners such as hawthorn and other hardy plants.