Unique Features: The Box Elder is native to this part of Colorado and further north into Canada, where it is known as the Manitoba maple. The Sensation is a cultivated male variety of the species and, while it does produce insignificant flowers, it does not produce any seed.  Since the bothersome Box Elder bugs show up to eat the seeds, they are not attracted to this tree. The Sensation grows rapidly into an upright, rounded shape with stronger wood, better branch angles and a more tree like form than the species, though there can be some basal suckering when younger. The leaves are compound, usually with three serrated leaflets, emerging copper red and maturing to medium green.  In the fall the foliage turns red, and will sometimes turn to yellow just before dropping. When the trees are younger the bark has an unusual bamboo like look to it. This is a hardy tree for difficult sites.