Botanical name: Liquidambar styraciflua

Botanical name: Liquidambar styraciflua
Attributes: A large shade tree known for its spectacular, late fall color of reds and burgundy. The leaves are star-shaped, and its twigs are often corky and thus very ornamental in winter. The round clusters of yellow-green flowers are masked by the early-to-emerge leaves. The tree produces woody gumball fruit, which drop in winter and can be considered a nuisance when the tree is planted in the wrong place.
Bloom time: Late spring/May
Bloom color: Yellow-green
Culture: Plant sweetgum in moist to wet rich soils. Trees should be dug from a nursery only in spring, but container-grown plants can be transplanted whenever the ground is workable. Water the newly planted tree during dry spells, although established sweetgums are very drought-tolerant.
Landscaping tips: Plant sweetgums as a spectacular shade tree above shrub borders, ground covers, beds or in woodland gardens where the fruit can drop and be mulched with the fallen leaves. Two fruitless (or nearly so) varieties have been selected: "Cherokee" and "Rotundiloba," both of which make excellent street or lawn trees where overhead wires are not present. Note that young trees have an upright pyramidal form, but that trees become very wide-spreading with age. They are beautiful when planted close together in a grove, which forces them to keep their upright, cathedrallike crowns.
Cost: Small 5-gallon trees usually sell for about $40, while large-balled and burlapped trees start at about $200.
Source: Powell Gardens