Liquidamber Styraciflua ‘Worplesdon’ (Sweet Gum)
Heatherwood Fall

A pair of liquidambers frame the entry area to Heatherwood. I planted them three years ago, before we added the other entryway planting areas and replaced the flowering plum trees with Green Vase Zelkovas. I am attracted to them because of their prominent upright shape, their brilliant fall color, and their “spikey” fruit.

I first planted three liquidambars in our Woodinville, WA garden 25 years ago. I did not have much luck. The first winter after I planted them, we had a very wet snow storm followed by a freeze. The trees still had their leaves and the weight of the snow and ice bent them over to the ground. While we lived there, they never regained their form. Our first year in Fountainville, PA we planted a row of five liquidambers along the road in our front yard. They became the star of our front yard landscape. So when I moved back to Selah, I had to add a pair to a prominent place in our landscape.

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