Sweetgum Tree Care in the Philadelphia Area

How to spot sweetgum

• Star-shaped, five-pointed leaves
• Spiky round 'gumball' seed pods that litter the yard
• Outstanding red, purple, and orange fall color
• Often planted as a street tree, with roots that lift sidewalks and lawns

Sweetgums are gorgeous in fall and a headache the rest of the year — those spiky seed balls are a chore, and the surface roots have a habit of lifting walkways, driveways, and mowing strips. They're common street and yard trees across the older Philadelphia neighborhoods.

The calls we get on sweetgums are usually about surface roots, clearance pruning, or removal when the seed-ball mess and root damage finally wear a homeowner down.

Common problems we see on sweetgum

This is general guidance from three decades of tree work across the Philadelphia area — not a formal diagnosis. When it matters, we'll come look at the actual tree and give you a straight answer, free.

Our services for sweetgum