Cheering ourselves up with Maples

@BA006, just saw you mention to Emery about a persistent fox problem. I had a lot of dealings with these, job wise that is.
If you plant garlic in your garden it is a great deterrent 'they hate it'.
Also a lot of gardeners use fish blood and bone in their soil. Foxes love this. They have become very adept at opening bins also, so a weight on any food bins is a help.
Urban foxes are becoming a problem everywhere these days, as there is easy food to be had. I have seen far more foxes in the cities at night than in the countryside. Totally different look to them also. Very mangey !!

 

Just started weeding and saw my Esk Sunset petioles, I had to share it with you all.

 

Just nicely got the roses upright again and here they are today after last night's 'drizzle' the garden is let's say soggy underfoot at the moment, might even get to mow the lawn sometime this year.

 

@ROEBUK, good afternoon M, tbh I'm at a loss for words. The times they are a changing. ( The great Bob Dylan this time).

 

With it being a dull drab day you can certainly see some early colour movements in certain cultivars. Last pic of my Esk sunset planted this out just last year , thought i was going to lose this one when i had it in container for the first two years, looked shocking last year so seems to be liking it so far in the ground , did notice the leaves were larger when in a pot though, they are just starting with a second flush push hopefully next year will see some better leaf size.

 

@ROEBUK , The rain starts and then along come your beauties to cheer us all up. Your Sharps pygmy is looking amazing M.

 

Thank you, D. I didn’t know the faxes hate garlic smell. I will consider to plant them.

 

@BA006, if you find where they are entering, (there is quite a pungent smell they leave to mark territory), then plant here. Grey Squirrels hate garlic as well. They will dig it up once, but never again and remember your garden is not a nice place for food.
Btw foxes are not classified as vermin, so other means cannot be used.
Good luck.

 

Hi ROEBUK, I have never seen small Esk Sunset. It’s ideal size. Have you grafted yourself? All garden centre I’ve been, they sold only high graft tall trees. I’m looking for small acer Pseudoplatanus Leopoldii as my garden doesn’t have big space.

 

Bought this purely by chance, like yourself had been looking for quite a while for a small one, again all i could find too was tall high grafts as well then found this by chance in a garden centre the only one , struck lucky and i have never seen another since, they are out there though.

 

I'm reading these posts about Esk sunset with interest and would just like to mention that the beauty of Esk Sunset is from the top but also from below with the dusky pink underside of the leaves.
Mine is an 8ft tall tree atm and when the wind blows a little the flutter of mottled green and pinks is IMO lovely. This cannot be seen with a low graft.

I too looked around for a low grafted Esk in the UK, but could not find one like you H @BA006, but now tbh I actually am pleased I didn't.

Although if I had the chance to buy a second Esk like M @ROEBUK has I would still jump at it. To have two versions to look at would be wonderful and placing a low graft Esk amongst a few dark reds is a magical combination.

Hope I haven't bored everybody with my thoughts.

 

D , Know what you mean re the undersides they do look ever so pretty and i am more than suited with mine, it's just i wanted a smaller one, my problem is to many cultivars and not enough room , funnily it's next to my felice and i am thinking of putting a pixie on the other side of it for next year , just pleased it's taken thought it was for the garden waste bin last year, hoping for better growth next year , and as you say the dusky pink does show nice with the sun behind it.

 

@ROEBUK, the sun is picking up your pinks beautifully M. Whatever the size, I think we both would reccomend this Psudoplatinus.

 

Thank you for your advice !

 

@BA006, your welcome H.

 

Lucky you !

 

Oh I see. Interesting! For me, there is no choice as there is no space for big trees. I wish I had a big garden ...lol

 

@BA006, my prime reason initially was to provide shade for my delicate Japanese maples. I'm trying to create 3 tiers, taller single stem trees, then my Japanese maples, then Hostas, ferns etc.
I started this last September after deciding not to move house to have a bigger garden. Lawn and path etc etc was removed completely. It is a long term plan that is still a work in progress.
I understand your frustration with garden size, but in the South of England and London especially an acre of land with a house is an astronomical price.

 

I use various sizes of root pouches for bamboo divisions because they drain from everywhere and are easy to cut away instead of fighting with bulging plastic.
We are on the high side of rainfall here with over 72 inches a year so drainage is important.
I don't think anywhere in the UK is near that but you should be aware that dampness will impact the appearance of bags, especially if you are thinking of long term year round use.

Beginning of summer look

 

@wind-borne, excellent advice G. Not so sure about the rain though, M @ROEBUK might have a different opinion Lol

 

Well, I did look up the the annual rainfall for West Yorkshire and is less than half of ours, so unless he has a private micro-climate should be no problem. LOL

 

I'm a little late to the party with my "weeping" non-dissectums. Here's my Ryusen, my Home Depot mystery find (which I call Jiro Shidare for lack of a better name), and my Shin Deshojo (which reminds me of an old Yardbirds song: Over Under Sideways Down).

BTW, we're expecting some of your nasty weather tomorrow. Heavy rain and high winds from a tropical storm moving up the coast.

 

@wind-borne, good morning G, that is interesting about the rain fall in Oregon Coast. Is your soil very free draining? I ask because everything I've seen about Oregon on YouTube shows the most beautiful trees and especially in Autumn. Do you have the perfect climate for maples ?

 

@dangerine49, good morning J, better late than never. I like the condition of your Ryusen, it looks extremely happy in that position.
The Yardbirds eh! Loved their music, but then the late 60's was the mecca for music IMO.
Oh and good morning Harry, missed your input today, lol

 

Good morning, I have received a couple of PM's asking if I would post how my Ghosts are doing after the heat then wind etc etc.
So here they are this morning. I've also added my Reticulatum, Reticulatum Purple and Amagi Shigure as I thought it would be a good idea to compare at this time of year. Amber and First are losing their reticulation sooner than other years. A strange year indeed.
Any questions, then please do ask.