I searched for information on them and am aware that they are not supposed to grow well here, (LA, zone 8b) but I'm wondering if any of you have had any experiences with growing them further south than they normally grow. I actually seem to have a little microclimate in my yard...things leaf out later in the spring and color and/or go dormant a little earlier than, say, even just across town. So I thought I may be able to grow one. They are just heart-stopping!

Also, I dug up a little maple last spring off the roadside. It has the smaller leaves, red leaf stems, and fairly nice fall color that are typical of the little maples that grow along the highways here. Anyone know what those are called, or have any experience growing one in your yard?

Thanks!

I didn't plant it in full sun, though, because I've always seen it growing under other trees on the side of the road. It is under a very tall pine tree right at the edge of a clearing. It remains to be seen how it will do.

I am researching the "Legacy" variety of acer saccharum right now...I read the other day in my research that it is supposed to be more heat tolerant.

Thanks to you both for your input, and I would still love to hear anything else anyone has to say about it. :-)

Of the nonornamental native trees, the most deserving of the skull-and-crossbones warning are those that produce cyanide in their wilted leaves. Cyanide suffocates animals by blocking oxygen transport via the red blood cells. The red maple (Acer rubrum) is one such tree whose leaves are harmless most of the year until wind damage or seasonal change causes them to fall from the tree and wilt. Red maple leaves have serrated edges and can turn either red or yellow in the fall. "There are other trees that shed red leaves in the fall, but the red maple has some distinctive features," says Anthony Knight, BVSc, MRCVS, who specializes in toxic trees and plants at Colorado State University. "The underside of the red maple leaf tends to be silvery in color." Signs of poisoning, including lethargy, discolored urine and darkened gums, may not appear for four days.

Equally toxic are cherry (black cherry, chokecherry, and fire cherry) peach and plum trees, all members of the Prunus species. These leaves also produce cyanide when wilted, affecting horses within a few hours of ingestion.

Yew (taxus sp.) and Oleander (nerium oleander)are also poisonous.