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May 11, Samaras, also known as “helicopters” or “whirligigs.”. Photo credit: J.S. Richardson, Duke University. More commonly referred to as “helicopters” “whirlers” “twisters” or “whirligigs” samaras are the winged seeds produced by maple stumpclear.barted Reading Time: 2 mins.

Apr 11, types of trees. maple trees. It’s hard not to love maple trees when you think of their crisp red, orange and yellow hues every fall.

But face it: the helicopter seeds that fall along with their leaves are a pain to clean up. Maple trees drop their seeds towards the end of spring. As fun and majestic as they may be to watch fall down, they can be quite a headache and create copious amounts of yard work for homeowners.

Maple tree seeds fill up lawns and flower beds like little green party umbrellas, sidewalk cracks, and clog gutters and downspouts. Dec 14, Many maple trees produce samaras, and the seed of each species is slightly different. The silver maple (Acer saccharinum) thrives in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3. Jun 12, Maple trees that are healthy sometimes skip a year in seed formation, either due to poor pollination or to an exceptionally good growing season the year before.

An over-abundance of samaras sometimes means the tree experienced some sort of “stress” the previous year, so producing a bumper crop of seeds is the tree’s way of carrying on the species, should that stress continue and that particular tree Reviews: When it comes to fall color, sugar maples are at the top of the list.

This Canadian maple tree natives are absolutely spectacular in autumn when their foliage turns to shades of red, orange, and yellow. They make excellent shade trees for large backyards, while preferring full Estimated Reading Time: 7 mins.