Hi all, new here and would really appreciate any advice from some more experienced gardeners. I have this acer in my garden for about 8 years, it was tiny when first planted and I really like it. Seeing this grow has really made me love acers and I am slowly buying more. Not sure what type this is but see images below. The leaves look sick is there anything I need to do to protect this tree ?
@Stuart McKenna, good morning Stuart and welcome to the Maples forum. Firstly it looks like Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream ', this is such a delicate maple and suffers from wind and sun damage every year in every garden. If you look at where the leaves have turned brown and curled, it is above the protection of the fence line. That is the clue. You have nothing to worry about IMO. These leaves will drop and next season you will have fresh new lovely leaves. Japanese maples do best with protection from afternoon sun and strong wind and none more so than this cultivar. You have given it the best protection you can from the fence, but you can prune this tree in February to keep it lower to give it more protection from the panel next year and if you are going to do so you can do a Summer trim now, no more than 20% is my rule of thumb. This will remove the scorched leaves etc and give a more pleasing look for the rest of this Summer. Hope that's of help.
