Spring has Arrived at Mill Street School! The pictures in this PPT were taken on April 6, 2008. It was too windy to take nice sharp pictures, but this will give you the idea. Basically, if you walk around the school property and look up at a tree and it really looks like the buds have started opening, it’s either a silver maple or a red maple.

Silver maple or red maple? After you look at one Silver maple you will probably be able to walk around and pick out the rest of them. There are quite few at Mill Street School. You’ll also find some red maples. You might confuse the Red maples with Silver maples since we can’t get up close to see the detail. You’ll be able to tell the difference when the fruit forms and the leaves come out. For now, just enjoy.

Silver maple on south west corner of black top.

Silver maple on south east corner of blacktop Silver maple on south east corner of blacktop. See next slide for closeup.

Silver maple on south east corner of blacktop Silver maple on south east corner of blacktop. The branch I’ve circled is shown in the next slide.

Female flowers on silver maple tree.

Male flowers on silver maple

I’m pretty sure that this is a Red maple since its buds haven’t opened yet. We’ll be able to tell when the fruit develops or when the leaves appear. See next slide

Buds not yet opened on 4/6/2008. This is probably a red maple