Sycamore leaves in autumn

Platanus occidentalis, American planetree

I like sycamore trees in the fall when their leaves begin to change color. They look like someone has tied colored handkerchiefs to all the branches -- or so it seems to me. Each leaf is so large that it makes its own splash of color.

I found this sycamore growing in my garden one wet spring about a dozen years ago. It was just a seedling. Sycamore seeds like to fall onto mud flats and take root, and "mud flat" describes my garden that spring. We dug the little tree up and planted it on the far end of our little acreage.

(The rainy season that year was interesting. A killdeer made its nest in my muddy washed-out garden, and she had a hissy-fit every time I came anywhere near it. I felt bad about making her fake a broken wing all the time so I just let her have that end of the garden for a while. But now, back to the sycamore tree...)

I estimate the current height of the sycamore tree at 35-40 feet. I'm not real good at estimating height, but it's a good 15-20 feet above the power lines.

Ah, yes, the power lines. They are going to be a problem. We underestimated the spread that the tree would develop and the power company will want to trim back its branches on that side. We'll have to let them do it. One good thing about it -- sycamores aren't a densely branched tree.

Sycamores may grow up to 70 feet in 20 years. They are long-lived trees, often living over 300 years. They often reach 100 feet in height and they may be even wider than they are tall!