That tree is like me, mid-thirties and locally grown. Its Acer palmatum 'Shishigashira'. It gets all day sun and does not seem to mind the mid-summer heat. I have become good friends with the guy who originally grafted it and grew it up to the point that I bought it, so its a very special tree to me. In the first picture of #39 its little brother Ojishi is in the ground in front of it.
Here is a photo I call Orange starburst: (tree in the photo was sold as red pygmy grown in late morning and afternoon sun, note the other tree from the same grower in shade was yellow)
John, I'm so glad to hear that that orange tree is a Shishigashira!! I already have 2 of them :-) This is my first fall with them (both in large containers) and most of the leaves are still green, believe it or not. A few have turned a bright yellow, but nothing orange like yours. Both of mine have had some morning sun, but dappled shade all afternoon. Should I give them a sunnier location next year to get that intense orange color? The colors of your Red Pygmy are just amazing!! Kevin in KC
Thank you! I have 2 Shishigashira growing as bonsai. The one in more shade in the afternoon did get yellow, where the one that got more afternoon sun had colors of orange, red, and little hints of yellow on the interior leaves. Then of course my large one on the patio gets all day sun with orange color and red veins. So it leads me to believe that afternoon sun has something to do with the orange color. The only reason why I am not completely certain is that all 3 trees came from different growers. If they all came from the same stock tree I would be able to answer your question with 100% certainty. One other point to add, is that my parents tree came from Oregon and it is in afternoon shade with yellow fall color, which further supports my thought that afternoon shade = yellow and afternoon sun = orange to orange and red.
Interesting observation re the Shishigashira's like your self i also have 3 trees all from different growers one large one in the ground about 8/10 years ,then one standard in a 35 litre container and one patio in a 7.5 litre the later two both showed beautiful orange colours this year (all dropped now) but the large one is very late in changing this year. Picture 1 Nov 10th 2012, Picture 2 this morning !! will go a beautiful gold tinged with orange , you can just pick out the slight changes in the colours. The large tree does recieve good all day sun until around 3pm but then the sun moves round to the west and is then shaded by the neighbours large trees.
Last night we had a very hard freeze, down to 15 F (-10 C), so I guess I won't be seeing much more color in any of my trees :-( Other trees with green leaves still were my Shidava Gold , Okushimo and Seiryu <sigh> Please tell me that the trees in containers didn't need any protection. They were sitting in my flower beds, not on concrete. Kevin in KC
Both of my Seiryu's have just started to change this past week and i can honestly say this is the best colour they have shown since they were planted out, 3 years for the small one and 5 years for the large.Should be at their best by the begining of next week. It's been a strange year for the Acers what with a late frosty spring start and a good summer alot of my trees changed colour and dropped early, and some are just comming into colour now? Ones which were very good last year have been ok this year and the reverse can be said for the poor ones last year have looked great. All my container trees were moved accordingly following the sun or retreating from it!! The only tree i keep a constant watch on is my Aoyagi this stay's in the shade all year and i only move this when it turns yellow and place it next to a Osakazuki for effect.
WRT Shishigashira,I have to agree with you JTI.Usually a lovely uniform orange like yours when grown in little sun,this year was moved to a sunnier spot(from 2pm on).There's a lot of red now which I haven't seen before.
ROEBUK and Houzi, Thank you for sharing your experience with Shishigashira along with the beautiful photos. After our discussion on reds and yellows, Gomero posted an explanation in a different thread, if you didn't check it out already: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=81294 Here are a few more fall pictures. After this evening's forecasted storm and high wind advisory, this may be the last of my fall leaves. Photo 1 is a variety of fall leaves Photo 2 is Acer palmatum 'Emperor I' Photo 3 is Acer palmatum 'Ojishi' fall color on the shaded underside of the tree.
Hi John, My Mikawa Yatsubusa finally turned her color early this week; is it because I have it on a pot instead of in the ground?. I remembered Charlie showed his like a month ago. I can't believe it takes this long while the others JMs have turned their colors weeks ago and most have even lost all their leaves. But, I really enjoyed its color. I assume you have finished winterize all your trees esp. those in the containers. When is the proper time to fertilize the JM? right before Spring growth or after all the leaves are opened?. Thanks, Steven