Sweetgum
Sweetgum is a vegetable in the Altingiaceae family. It grows best in full sun with medium moisture, and is listed for USDA zones 5-9.
Varieties
1 · sorted by days to maturity▸Sweetgum
PROPAGATION CATEGORY: Shade tree (seed) (not in original seed catalog). Use: Star-shaped leaves, brilliant fall color. Note: Drops spiky seed balls; fruitless cultivars available.
Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) is a large shade tree with glossy star-shaped leaves and superb purple-red fall color; the spiky seed balls are a nuisance, so fruitless cultivars exist.
Growing notes: Botanical name: Liquidambar styraciflua|Hardiness zones: 5-9|Propagation: seed|Light: Full sun|Water: Medium|Mature size: 60-75 feet
Plan your sweetgum planting
Add sweetgum to a free GardenDraft plan and get sow, transplant, and harvest dates computed for your ZIP code — with a drag-and-drop bed layout and reminders when it’s time to plant.
Start your free plan →At a glance
Storing & preserving
Most keep best refrigerated; storage crops prefer a cool, dry spot.
- Freeze: Blanch briefly, cool, then freeze — keeps color and texture.
- Can: Pressure-can low-acid vegetables; water-bath only pickled/acidified ones.
General home-preservation guidance — for tested processing times and safety, follow the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Growing timeline
Care & troubleshooting
No curated care & troubleshooting advice for sweetgum yet. Our extension-sourced library currently focuses on common edible crops; we're expanding it over time.