This one that I nicknamed "Shirpal" because I think (not sure) it's from a shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon' and looks like a shirasawanum, but with smaller leaves : a hybrid ?... October 22 : Today, April 29th 23 : Cool tree, anyway ... ;-)
Welcome! Nice tree, but looks more like 'Leopoldii' than 'Esk Sunset' to me. But always hard to say too much, too early.
I live in north Italy, not far from Bologna. Not the best place to cultivate maples, apart the natives and the most resilient ones. Very clay and poor drained soils, too wet in autumn-winter, a lot of calcium both in soil and groundwater (high pH and widespread chlorosis), extremely hot and dry summers (leaves of variegated plants tend to easily burn) with just 100 mm of rain in the trimester.
Thanks. It's only the second spring that I have this maple and I've never seen the Leopoldii, but I'm quite sure it's the Esk sunset. The underside of the leaves turn purple a couple of weeks after they emerge, Leopoldii shouldn't behave like this.
Very true, that means it isn't Leopoldii. Maybe it was just the pictures in the earlier post. There are quite a few counterfeit versions of this maple around, though.
I have a cousin that married her Italian teacher in Caen (France) and lives near Bologna now :-) why don't you replace "earth" by "near Bologna" ?... It would be nice... ;0)
Japonicum (?) Ruby - @maf I picked this one up yesterday at that AcersRus nursery in Pitsford - did you make it over there for a look in the end?
@kaloka.gathia a good friend to the forum, @alex66 , grows an incredible collection near Rome. I understand the climate can be challenging! Re: Esk, I thought the variegation looked very "flecked" compared to what one normally sees, more like the now-hard-to-fine 'Patchwork'. So let's see more pictures of it as the year advances, please! :) I took some pictures on 21/4, here are a few. Featuring one the lovely spring flowers of A. sinopurpurascens.
Another larger Phoenix - I think this is a very special cultivar! Tsuma gaki - this was the one saved from the nursery burn pile 3/4 years ago - now getting enormous:)
A few more from the following days. This is the younger of the two A. flabellatum v. yunnanense, the other is flowering nicely but not as advanced. The pretty yellow/red Barberry with the illegal name :) is a selection of the Pepinière Hennebelle. And more glowers, this time featuring the spectacular A. laxiflorum. P.S. I think I need to get Phoenix planted somewhere. Spectacular.
1st May 2023 and you wouldn't think it tbh, still pretty cold. But the maples are enjoying it. Here are a few from a few minutes ago, with a group shot of a little part of my garden just opening up. Mikawa yatsubusa Baby Ghost Autumn Moon Grandma Ghost Brilliantisimum Manyo no sato Shindeshojo Crumple leaf And various maples on a small area of my garden
Similar to the experience of others in UK and France, a bumper year for Japanese maple flowers. Acer shirasawanum Aureum x2, Shigitatsu sawa, Aka shigitatsu sawa: Aoyagi x2 with white/cream flowers, Amagi shigure and Pixie together, Bi hoo lower bark contrasting against the relatively unshowy new leaves:
My trees are loving the wet and cold spring and so am I. Last year I was afraid my Kamagata was not doing well but this year it has come back beautifully. My ‘dwarfs’ are going strong! Pictures of Pixie 2x, Seiryu, Orange Dream, Shishigashira, Mikawa Yatsabusa, Kamagata 2x, Sensu 2 x, Aconitifolium, Shirazz, Azuma Murasaki and Oregon sunset 2x.
No I hadn't realised Emerald Lace gets quite so big!! I'll leave it there for now. I bought it half price from a garden centre in the winter of 2021 as it looked ropey, and then I left it more or less in full sun in the same pot all of last year and it thrived where I think a lot of others would've sulked. I'll give it a year or two to recover and get some fresh growth going - plus I can always try and constrain it a little! I think it'll contrast well with the Atropurpureum next to it anyway, and I can give it at least a 5 foot spread I think!
Maybe this one was from a seed that incidently got into the batch, but it doesn't look like any that had seeds that year, or any otrher of my maples anyway. Still holding some colour today :
'Hana matoi' : the first flush of leaves is red, the variegation appears later : Trompenburgd / Flavescens / Rainbow / Koto-no-Ito / Deshojo / Como / Jerre Schwartz / Atropurpureum :
Yes, indeed : it's one of the two retculated maples I have, but 'Purple Ghost' is nothing compared to this one.
Taken 2 days ago, Emerald Lace, Orange Dream then 2 small Butterflies, no idea what the large green weeping tree is but it looks nice at about 15 years old and just poking it's head above that is Moonrise.
Still waiting for most of the in ground maples to open, so as a diversion a little something. Thought I was pulling up a small seedling 2 years ago but found was actually a 4 foot branch that was buried and had started putting out some small roots near the end before rising above ground. Was pretty skeptical at the time as the roots were minute, but does look like it wants to live. circinatum
