Cheering ourselves up with Maples

@Lisa Harry, totally understand Lisa, it is good to have some fun on the thread. Agreed this forum can be very tempting with all the lovely maples on show. But less is more, is often the case with these trees.

 

Well Gosh! (Or should that be Gaursh?) Thanks @AlainK and @wcutler !

Re: the hair, Adele actually likes it, but I think it looks terrible. And it certainly feels terrible. I spent my youth with _very_ long hair, and when I got rid of it I found it so much easier that I've never wanted long again.

Be careful what you wish for Lisa. :) Small is really small (120 people), no services, no nothing. And as for "lavish", you're looking at 30 years of hard graft: the house was essentially a ruin, and all the trees had been cut for firewood, with the exception of the big Tilia in front (lousy firewood). So there was everything to do, both inside and out. It makes us tired now even to think about it; when we were trying to get it habitable we used to come out from Paris for 2-3 days a week and literally grind from 7am to 11pm, and our "vacations" were the same. The advantage is of course that in those days it cost almost nothing to buy in the Norman back woods. Now all we have to do is devote every minute of spare time to upkeep! :) :)

Here's a look at summer colors on 'Sango kaku', still the best coral barked variety for my money.



-E

 

Good morning, this morning.
Beni otake, holding its red though with orange and purple overtones.
Had a little trouble deciding where to place my shadow since I couldn't escape it, so set a pom pom on my head. LOL
Front, side, and backlit.

 

Nice pics. Gorgeous Pom Pom lol

 

@wind-borne, good evening G, so delicate, so beautiful, good pruning will do that. 'Lovely'.

 

Wow @emery wonderful work what a labour of love. You both should be so proud. My partner has already stipulated that whatever place we get it’s required to have all indoor service/plumbing and so forth - I guess he felt the need to mention that;) I’m half Italian and have dual citizenship, sometimes I’ve contemplated Doing something similar with their older places that need restoring, I think it’s more than I want to take on but it would be an amazing adventure. You can’t put a price tag on the wonder you both must feel walking the grounds.

 

I wish I could take photos to capture the beautiful shades of the evening sun.

A. shirasawanum "x", Acer p. "div", A.p. 'Beni Hagoromo', A. p. 'Seiryu' and A. circinatum 'Burgundy Jewel' with 'Atropurpureum' in the bgd.

 

@AlainK, they look pretty darned good to me Alain. A Summers evening in France, beautifully captured.

 

Well Alain, that old flip-phone still takes great pictures! :P

Surely the maple in the second picture, showing all the pretty red, is a Trident? (A. buergerianum).

I have circinatum 'Pacific Purple', which is meant to be the inferior cultivar that 'Burgundy Jewel' replaced. This is the first year it's shown really purple, I think because of the sun, but I guess yours is still the better cultivar all around.

The circinatums seem to like the soil here.

 

Yep. Actually this is not the photo I wanted to post ^^

Here's the one I took today:

 

First 3 pics of seedling #apunk73 caught my attention today. I've been growing this one about 6 years now. I think its looks very lovely.

Other pics of beautiful flowers in the garden.

 

@LoverOfMaples, excelled yourself D, beautiful photos. That maple is a new one on me and I agree totally with your thoughts, Lovely.

 

Thanks for the kind words D!

 

Good morning, Summer rain, such a lovely smell IMO. These I have just taken. I think my Reticulatum purple is a match for any of the ghosts, but only just. What do you all think???

 

I’m hoping to do something similar on a smaller scale in Puglia..Cisternino near Ostuni, not sure the JM will cope with the heat there though

 

Well some should certainly work, that's not too far from the Villa Taranto? @alex66 and Phil Smets will be good contacts to talk to about it, and I think the climate where they are in Rome is hotter than down on the coast. It sounds like a fabulous plan!!

Ah, I used to know what that was. Summer rain, seems like a dream. All our moisture goes up north to the UK, now, in summer.

 

The rain, even here in the UK is very welcome indeed.

 

Nice. I was debating going to Puglia this past summer but settled on Sorrento. My family is in Supino so a short stop there. Unfortunately due to Covid we are scheduled for next year.

 

@Acerholic
D,
after a couple mentions regarding pruning/shaping this tree I felt I should admit I have done none whatsoever.
I purchased as 5' tree in a 1 gal pot for $15.
The trunk was as thick or thin as my little finger, feeder roots were exiting the bottom holes 6".
The trunk has slowly increased in girth yet still needs some major catchup before any semblance of symmetry is reached.
Here is 3 years ago after removing stakes of first season, was quite an experience watching the trunk bend 90˚ daily as the wind would whip through but I did think it would toughen it up.


As for the top shape, looks very normal in winter with no leaf weight.
With the slightest growth of early spring everything heads downward.
As the recent picture aligns fairly well with 3 years ago closeup I include photo you had requested for this thread earlier.

 

@wind-borne, good afternoon G, I was more than happy to give you all the credit. How very honest of you.
Sometimes a perfect shape just happens, rare these days as they are often jumped on by collectors.
As you say it bends 90° in the wind, but that is it's strength also, the ability to be flexible and not snap.
I look forward to seeing it more over the coming years G.

 

Perhaps it goes "up t'north" of you too, D? :) Was thinking about @ROEBUK , and I often watch the beeb weather (and news) so do see how much some in the UK have been getting.

Personally I don't do much formative pruning on Acers, unless they are out of whack. Of course I remove crossing branches and so on, but otherwise the natural shapes are so good. The exception is dissectums, where if you don't train it is usually quite difficult to get any height.

 

I don't have any maples myself, but here's a photo of a big Field Maple (A.campestre ) not far from us.

 

What a fabulous structure and property!! Great cinematography. Unfortunately my high school French did me absolutely no good in understanding the dialog except for one word which captured it perfectly: "magnifique".

I was pretty lazy this weekend with picture taking. Too damn hot. But I did take a shot of my office foliage. I recently inherited a new office at my car dealership since one of my co-workers retired. He left behind a cactus named Louise. I'm her caretaker now.

 

Hi Lisa, welcome.

It is nice to see that there are more women who love maples lol :)

Have you tried Seyriu, Osakazuki or Bloodgood? From experience (I live in the Mediterranean, in Mallorca) these trees can endure a few hours of sun. In spring, autumn and of course winter here in my area it does not affect them, in summer ... it is another story. But since the sun doesn't heat the same way everywhere, it's probably better in your area.

 

Very nice. Almost World Trade Center like. I like Louise!