Maple Seed Deception

Maple seeds, or samara, against a backdrop of fall color.

Maple trees produce “helicopter seeds” (more correctly known as a samara) en masse. I can still remember seeing thousands of seeds flying through the air when a good autumn breeze picked up, making it look as though it were raining maple seeds.

But seeds from maple trees are fickle. Sometimes a lot of the seeds are viable, sometimes a maple tree will produce its thousands of seeds and not a single seed will be viable. You could try growing a maple tree from seed, but the best way to do it, in reality, is to purchase a maple tree from a nursery or produce one yourself from cuttings (provided the tree isn’t patented).