A.p. 'Akane'

This is one I bought last year. These pics are the colour in April May and June of this year ... quite beautiful. Presumably it will finish up pale green as it was when purchased last year
Acer palmatim 'Akane'

 

That is a beauty, I've always wanted to get one. What kind of light are you giving it?

 

It only gets late afternoon sun (when there is any??) Someone on this forum (I forget who it was) advised me that they could be quite a tender plant, so I changed my original planting spot (which would have been open to the wind etc) and so far it seems to be working fine. Fingers crossed.

 

Ah, wind. Yes there's no getting away from that, here. My plan is to win the lottery and build 3m stone walls.

 

I hope the lottery thing works out too!

To the NE of me in Lake County we have a huge area of growers. This is an area of unobstructed strong winds off of lake Erie and further to the NW you have the long expanse of Lake Huron. Polar air tends to slide down into the area at times during January. Despite all this, tender plants and Japanese maples are feild grown. Every grower has a hedge of dense white pine or arborvitaes as a wind break that surrounds the perimeter of each feild. Some growers oriented North-South have a break E-W across the field every 2500' or so. The wind going through the pine needles makes a cool sound and actually helps cool the feild in Summer too. The shade (from hedge) provides a place for shade loving plants to grow without using shade cloth and decreases water usage too.

I guess what I'm saying is if the lottery does not work out, a living wind break may be within reach.

 

Emery... can't wait to win the lottery, so fed up with the constant wind year after year it never ends, got a local builder in last week for a price to have the side of the house completley walled off then a 8ft fence running down the side to give me a area where i can keep around 12/14 large containerised trees, had to move most of them this year they were getting so damaged plus you could see the roots swaying in the wind (not a good sign) most were in 40ltr containers which were also staked into the ground for extra support , so they are coming to build this for me later in the year, so hopefully we can have some better protection for next year. We have had constant daily gale force winds this week and only today the wind has dropped somewhat and have been able to get out to see the damage, thankfully not to bad, nice selection of leaves all over the garden though.
Just had to move my beautiful tsuma gaki which has had three branches completley snapped off and around a third of it's leaves also blown off, does look a sorry state but it will come back next year. Like the Japanese garden pictures you posted very pretty.

 

John, those lake Erie winds are probably a lot worst, and more constant, than most of what I have to deal with! Our problem hear is that we're on a crest, and in just about the highest point of Normandie at 435m. (We see the highest point across the valley). When we get the storms, which is often enough, we add 20-40 kph to the wind estimates. It really does blow, if not up to great lakes standards we're frequently over 100 kph, and what's more there's only a very shallow layer of soil over heavy clay, so pines tend to blow over very easily and because of the terrain would have to planted quite close to provide much shelter...

We've had a plan, mapped out by a sadly departed friend who was a very well known garden designed, to reinforce the hedge level about 120m south and downhill of the house. Currently this is a row of oaks and beeches, my friend proposed planting a 15m wide band of holly, hazel and other smallish, dense, trees, followed by another row of oak, beech and sycamore. This would probably help somewhat, but it's a fairly expensive proposition along 400m, so we've never been able to get to it. Did fix our roof this year though! :)

Photos are what the wind did the day we got back from Japan last week. It also broke off the tops and new growth from many maples, so Mark I feel your pain. I know you get bombed by the wind up there in darkest Yorkshire... :) You must be thrilled to get this done, will it be from wood? It's going to make an immense difference I'm sure.

-E

 

Ouch! That hurts...It's hard to protect against a microburst. I used to be a pilot, so I know how dangerous and powerful they can be. You may need to adapt techniques that the Japanese use to protect against heavy wet snow.
Search Results for 'komo maki; komomaki; komo-makit; tree wrapping; straw wrapping; straw wrap; winterize; pine trees; protection; japanese gardener' | John Lander Photography

Here Canadian hemlock Tsuga canadensis grows in clay soils and Sandy soils and they stand up to heavy winds and snow. We have a vacation home in the Upper peninsula of Michigan and the hemlock always stand up to strong storms. But I guess nothing is better than stone or a green hedge designed by a local expert that knows your climate and challenges better anyone else. Sorry to hear about your loss.

We did the roof thing in 2007 before the big financial crash...ugh!!! City inspector went down our street and issued a combined 50 citations for our street trying to justify their job as the real estate market was starting to slow. Every contractor that came out to replace the roof said why? You have another 10-15 years left on the roof. The city said tell them to warrant the roof and say it will last more than 10 years; of course no contractor wants to do that...I feel your pain, buying a new roof can be a big expense especially when you go for all the upgrades. For me, I research everything so by the time we were getting it done the contractor said he never met a homeowner that knew more about roof technology and understand of how they all work. I even taught the guy how to calculate the required linear feet of soffit venting to balance out the ridge vent system. What can I say, I'm mental about doing things right and wanting to understand how everything works...I digress...

 

Woah... emery i was miffed about a few little branches blowing of my TG if i came home and saw what you had to welcome you home, s#&% i wouldn't be able to stop crying, would need a day to recover.
Hoping you can reshape and do some cosmetic surgery to help re balance the tree/s Like you we had serious wind last week couldn't bear to look out of the rear windows on to the garden, just watching them all bend and sway with the gusts , thought i would have more damage than i did..phew mainly leaf loss i can live with that.