Alain, Wonderful photo. Beauty is seen at many levels and this closeup with bokeh is a masterpiece. If you should print this and sell it I would gladly be your first customer. Thanks for sharing. Tom
Well, I just told Alain that I thought his photo of the Baldsmith was a masterpiece. I guess I need to pay more attention to who is the author and who is the commenter. My apology to you and to Alain. Maplesmagpie, fantastic photo. You must be a professional. If not, you are truly blessed with talent and should consider marketing your photos. It is amazing how some people can see something that is attractive and understand what truly makes it beautiful. Thanks much for sharing. Tom
Hi, members of Maple forum. I 'm not a follower of your forum and I live in Japan. But today I visited Hiraizumi, Tohoku and moved by beauty of coloured Japanese maples. So I 'd like to post pictures All of them are usual Japanese maple. First five pictures were taken at Motu-ji Temple and rest of them were taken at Thuson-ji Temple. There weren't many coloured maples near the entrance of the temple but there were many near Konjiki-do or Golden Hall.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures from Japan! I love the beautiful colors and architecture captured in your photos.
Merry 'momijigari' with all and all. To appreciate the coloured sheets (koyo) is a great festival for japanese. Hiraizumi is a town of culture, it is there that with the 12° century an art of space was invented, it is there that, very early, religion, cosmology, esthetics and space of contemplation were dependent in human spirits like a lifestyle. Less known than Kyoto, Hiraizumi had as much influence on Japan culture. To punish it ... the city had been completely shaven, destroyed by envious and opposed competitors ! There remain hidden gardens which will be probably a day reconstituted. Please excuse this serious overflow, I have the culture and art in friendship. Thanks 'eteinindia' for opening the door. The usual maples are called 'momiji'. Even in garden Temples they are not grafted. Most widespread is 'iroha momiji'. It is a large vigourous tree, its many hybridization all are coloured more the ones than the others, that's why i grow them from seeds , in remembering Japan.
Best ever year for JM colours in my neck of the woods thanks to the awful summer, beautiful golds, crimsons, oranges, purples etc, can also add white to the colour variations now as well. Sorry but just had to post this pic from this morning very very unusual for this time of the year in this country.
Yes looking around the surrounding countryside,there's quite a bit of red out there whereas usually it's 99% yellow.As usual not a great display in my garden but can imagine yours was a riot of colour Roebuk.Nice to see you here again and I'm sure glad we haven't got your weather here yet,especially as I'm without gas at home for another 2weeks.
Watching the documentary "Before the Flood" on National Geographic they mention how your area will get colder and the science behind it. I could not help but think about how members in the effected areas have mentioned over the past few years how you have experienced more cold and snow than usual.
Interesting to hear that you have seen this program with regards to the weather/climate changes also with their science with relation to certain areas of northern europe. I have certainly noticed that over the past 20+ years the summers are becoming very indifferent with regards to the amount of sunlight levels and warmth we recieve over longer periods of numerous days, and in the definate increase in very wet days which can then progress into weeks throughout the summer growing periods. One would think that this would have a detrimental affect on the JM but i have noticed with mine quite the opposite seems to be happening, definately over the last three years the summers have been very poor here in the UK but the JM just seem to flourish more especially with growth rates, then come the fall they put on a tremendous colour display which seems to be getting more vibrant every year, this year was no exception a super display which is still lasting even now, but a very strong showing of Orange colours this year for some reason which seem to last longer and are more intense than what i have seen over the years from the same cultivars? Houzi hope you don't have to go to long without gas , it really has been so cold up here over the past week and the forecasters were bang on with the snow for today !! Just had to go round all the leafed trees this morning and shake of all the snow. Lots of weight on the branches and a cold night forecasted = broken branches, added a few more Autumn pics for you to show you what you are missing in the north, hope it doesn't come down to you. Yorkie :)
Wow! Here, we had some snow too on Monday morning, damp snow that melted when touching the ground but my colleagues who live in the countryside told me that the fields were all white. Now the temperatures are above zero at night and rain is back and apparently it's here to stay for at least ten days.
I have found prolonged wet periods when the tree is dormant especially in late winter and early spring can be detrimental especially when the ground is completely saturated. The same can be said durring times when the trees are in full foliage But not growing. In contrast and much like Japan, when we have prolonged rainy period that lines up with the spring or early summer growth period the trees love it. The leaves stay pristine and damage free for a beautiful and prolonged fall show, providing the conditions remain optimum during the fall show. We have also found that when the growing season is less than desirable (hot and dry) you can have a great fall show by keeping a regular watering schedule that is free of chlorine or use rain water reserves and use a high quality organic slow release fertilizer like PHC roots 7-7-7. And you have optimal conditions during the fall show. (In contrast) A weak tree will always lose its leaves quickly and damaged leaves never show good. We have had consistent prolonged fall shows for several seasons using the above method despite varying challenges during the past growing seasons. I have found over many years of working on Japanese maples that they begin to work on you. Your life and the person you become is changed profoundly in ways you never thought possible. For the time and effort you put in to getting to know their needs and building an understanding of how they grow, they reward you ten-fold in their beauty throughout the seasons. The relationship is always evolving and we are both a work in progress and the process is on going and never-ending.
I haven't had much time to follow this thread, but was delighted to catch up with it in Paris with a faster internet connection this past week: here in Normandie I'm unable to see many pictures as the UBC server times out. Thanks for all the kind comments, and the delightful pictures. What a visual feast! Except the snow, which sort of sucks, (although it does make for nice pics!), luckily we've had nothing like that although it has already frosted which is quite early this year. First are some pictures from 25 Oct: A. cappidocicum (with Cornus florida 'White Cloud'); AP 'Chitoseyama' and 'Pink Filigree', A. rufinerve 'Albolimbatum'. 4 days later, on 29 Oct: 'Chitoseyama' has changed; 'Linearlobum'; 'Hogyoku'; AS 'Keikan san' On 30 Oct: A. pectinatum ssp forrestii, with other maples; A. longipes (prob var weixiense) cheers, -E
Yesterday I was let down by the fall show of my shishigashira bonsai. I thought the late fall show and a lower sun angle with shorter days may have left it in too much shade for a good show this year, as colors were drab yellow and green. Then this morning I was amazed by the transformation that occurred. The colors are all together different from the norm, but beautiful in their own right. Maybe they will be even better tomorrow...
My Shishigashira finally started to turn just over a week ago , but this one needs the bright sunlight to bring out it's beauty and bring it to 'life' then you will see the amazing brightness of it's golden/orange/yellow and red fiery leaves. Today was the only day we have had any sort of sun for well over a week now, but have had more snow and yet more rain again !! One thing is for sure this season was without doubt the best for the JMs in our country/area/zone, we have seen some outstanding colour changes this year and all through terrible weather conditions. As stated in #34 of this thread i have had more cultivars showing more intense colours this year especially in Orange and Golds , also all of my ' Dwarf ' cultivars have lasted longer in the leaf than in previous years , and have all shown wonderful colours for the first time this year. Hope everyone else had a good year, and has a good Christmas to follow.
Almost all the trees here are now leafless. We had very strong winds a couple of days ago. I didn't have time to check before sunset, but I think that even most of the samarras that were so many on a couple of trees were blown away.
