Vine Maple

Highlights

Vine maple (Acer circinatum) is the small maple of Pacific Northwest forests, a cluster of slim, arching stems under the big conifers. Its leaves are nearly round, with 7 to 9 shallow, fan-like lobes, and in fall they turn yellow, orange and red. In spring, small flowers with deep red sepals and greenish-white petals hang in loose clusters, followed by paired seeds with wings spread nearly flat.

Oregon State’s Landscape Plants database passes along a verdict from Grant and Grant: “the most useful native tree for the landscape in the Pacific Northwest.”

Is vine maple a good choice for my yard?

Yes, if…

• You have shade under tall trees. Oregon State says it grows in sun or deep shade, and part shade is where NC State says it performs best.
• You want fall color in a small space. Most plants stay 10-20 ft tall, often with several trunks.
• Your soil is moist and rich. NC State calls consistent moisture ideal, in acid to neutral soil.
• You garden in zones 5 to 7. NC State lists 4a to 7b, and Oregon State says zone 5, possibly 4.

Skip it if…

• Your summers are hot and dry. NC State says it does poorly in hot dry conditions.
• Your soil is dry, compacted clay. It wants damp, spongy forest soil that still drains.
• You want a single-trunk shade tree. It grows as a clump of stems and stays small.
• You’re outside its range. It’s native to just Washington, Oregon and California. In the interior West, look at Rocky Mountain maple instead.

Why vine maple matters

In the woods, vine maple is food and shelter. Its leaves are a preferred food of black-tailed deer and elk, and elk browse the twigs all winter. Squirrels and chipmunks eat and cache the seeds, and birds use maple leaves and seed stalks to build nests.

Maples host 364 native moths and butterflies in the Shropshire-Tallamy caterpillar records. In spring the flowers give nectar to bees, and in fall evening grosbeaks and northern flickers eat the ripe seeds.

A plant people built with

Native peoples of the Northwest made a lot from its bendable stems. The Forest Service notes branches used for scoop nets to take salmon and wood carved into spoons, bowls and platters. The Stillaguamish Tribe’s plant sheet adds baskets, fish traps, drum hoops, and Lake Wilderness Arboretum lists frames for fishing nets, snowshoes, and cradle frames. Coastal First Nations made a tea out of the bark of the roots for colds.

Where vine maple shines in your yard

• Under tall conifers, as a middle layer between the trees and the ferns.
• A fall color focal point outside a window, in a spot with some sun.
• A small yard where a full-size shade tree would be too much.
• Along a shady stream or ravine where the soil stays damp.
• A woodland edge, with arching stems leaning toward the light.

How to grow vine maple

Sun and shade

In forest shade it’s spreading, sprawling and vine-like; in sun it grows bushy and dense, with the best fall color, as long as the soil stays moist.

Soil and water

Give it moist, well-drained, humus-rich soil, acid to neutral. In the wild it’s an indicator of well-drained, moist soils. Water deeply in dry spells, especially for the first few years, and keep a thick layer of shredded leaves over the roots.

Size and growth

NC State puts it at 10 to 25 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide, growing at a medium rate. Wild plants can reach about 30 feet.

Layering

Where a low stem bends to the ground, it can form roots and start a new plant. Under old conifers it spreads almost exclusively by layering, since it’s a poor seed maker. In a garden this happens slowly, and you can snip the connection if you don’t want a thicket.

Cultivars

‘Pacific Fire’ has bright red bark that glows in winter. ‘Monroe’ has deeply cut leaves and is rarely more than about 10 feet tall after 25 years. For small spaces, ‘Sunglow’ reaches about 1 m in ten years, with apricot and peach spring leaves, and ‘Little Gem’ is a dwarf shrub.

In Washington and northwestern Oregon it grows mostly below 3,000 feet, along streams and under Douglas fir and western red cedar. It shares that shade with salal, Oregon grape and western sword fern.

Vine maple or Japanese maple?

They look like cousins because they are. Stanford’s tree guide calls vine maple the only North American member of its otherwise east Asian series, and its leaves are close to those of the Japanese full-moon maple.

Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) is native to southeast Korea and central and south Japan. NC State notes it self-seeds and can become weedy, and it’s listed as invasive in Virginia and DC. Vine maple has rounder leaves with shallower lobes, and its seeds spread their wings at 180 degrees. If you garden in the Northwest and want that layered, lacy look, the native one has been here the whole time.

What are good pairings for vine maple?

Plant it with the rest of a Northwest forest: western sword fern and bunchberry underneath, trilliums for spring, and goatsbeard and native rhododendrons nearby. Where the soil stays wet, add red twig dogwood. Inside-out flower and western wild ginger fill the gaps at ground level.

Where can I buy vine maple?

Native nurseries in the Pacific Northwest and northern California carry it, sometimes alongside named forms like ‘Pacific Fire’. For wildlife and a natural shape, we’d pick the straight species. Start with our list of native plant nurseries or order online.

Vine maple gives a shady Northwest yard what a Japanese maple promises: graceful stems, lacy leaves and a real fall show, plus food for deer, birds and caterpillars. For another native that loves the same shade, see our western sword fern profile. Happy planting!

Written by

Emily Lessard

Founder & Editor, The Plant Native

Emily Lessard is the founder and editor of The Plant Native, the site that helps homeowners across North America get started with native plants. She holds a Sustainable Landscapes certificate through the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association, is finishing a Native Perennial Garden Design Certificate at Temple University, and is the author of Plant Native: A Practical Guide to Over 100 Native Plants of North America (Quarto, March 2027). She gardens outside Philadelphia in the 8.3 Southeastern Plains ecoregion.

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Updated October 12, 2026Find more: Fall Foliage · Historic · Shrub · Tree

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