They sure are J and so very far ahead of mine, as can be seen by my little buds just starting to open today.
16th May 2021 and my Autumn moon has now leafed out to those wonderful colours that is maple is so well known for.
This was by far the tiniest little twig that's ever arrived from eBay.... thankfully it's put out some leaves and seems to have decided to live, which is always nice!
I have found that Autumn Moon takes a while to settle, but once it does it's a spectacular cultivar. Yours is coming along nicely Xi. No hurry to push it along, just let it do it's thing!!
I had those oranges last October, but to have this in Spring is amazing M. I would challenge anyone on the forum to try and match this.
I really wish you hadn't posted that challenge as I revisited some pictures from May 2017 with ambivalence as the tree is now deceased but was definitely orange then.
30th May 2021 and after a lot of discussions about Autumn Moon over that past few days, I thought I would add mine in the sunshine this morning.
New Autumn Moon from Hippo (I love those 'well, gotta buy a fourth tree to make the most of the shipping charge!' decisions) and I am in love with how orange this little guy is.
4th July 2021, no blazing hot sun, a few showers and some clouds makes for a happy Autumn Moon in my garden.
I'm always tempted to take pictures of those pumpkin-orange leaves, but today I was interested in the structure, too. I think - fingers crossed - this is shaping up to be a lovely little tree all round:
Floating leaves are always wonderful to look at. I think you are right Xi, it's all going in the right direction with this one.