Tomorrow is officially Autumn. Here in europe, we had the hottest - and probably one of the driest month of August in more than 100 years! We had at last some rain a couple of days ago, but if the temperatures are much cooler at night (15° this morning at 7:30), the sun is back and it was 25° this afternoon in my garden. Very unusual for that time of the year. I mostly have potted trees, so I can move them to a shady place if need be, but in spite of my care some have scorched leaves, posting photos of these has no interest, who would like to display photos of ugly trees if only in a section devoted to pests, diseases and other problems. But some of them are doing quite well so far: Acer p. 'Butterfly'. I find it very surprising that it's one of those that hardly gets sun-scorch, especially for a variegated one. This one was in half-shade most of the season, but the first one I got and first wanted to train as bonsai is in a shallow pot, gets the sun from 10-11 till 17:30-18:00 and is in pristine condition. Not so much damage either on this A. p. 'Atropurpureum dissectum' in full sun most of the day. It was not labelled when I bought it, it must be a named cultivar. Just behind it, A. p. 'Emerald Lace', a great cultivars that also seems to stand a fairly good amount of sun. In the background, on the right, an Acer monspessulanum that must feel at home in these times of global warming. Acer p. 'Beni Hagoromo', mostly in full sun too. Another of my favourites, beginning to show shades of red: An A. p. 'atropurpureum' that is in full sun most of the day. The leaves turned bronze green in mid-July only. The tips of the leaves are a bit scorched, but that's not so bad considering the weather we've had: Last but not least, two trees that I kept in the shade because in the previous years most of the leaves dried out before showing their autumn colourful adornments. A. p. 'Koto-no-Ito': Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon': If we have sunny days and cool nights with a little rain, I think that the colours in the coming weeks can be as stunning as the landscapes in "Who Killed Harry" ;-)
Hi Alain, Starting to see some colours here, though many will I think simply drop leaves quietly. The A. circinatum ssp. began to colour in the sun in August, I moved it into the shade where it has slowly continued. The A. saccharum 'Fairview' arrived last year as a new graft, which is now healing well though it is a couple of years off from planting. Acer pycnanthum, established in ground, is turning here and there, where 'Sango kaku' is in full summer dress and A. cappidocicum subsp sinicum is still putting on later summer growth! The painted maple Acer pictum is always one of the first to turn, splashed with red, orange and yellow. So far it's just a leaf here and there... and Acer micranthum is laden with showy pink samaras.
A couple of trees apparently waited for the end of the August heat wave to have a second flush of growth: Acer buergerianum. From a cutting first potted a couple of years ago, in its second year planted in the ground, full sun. In the first year it threw out shoots over 1m50 (5 feet or so). Every time I repot, or plant, a tree, I prune the roots but not the aerial part, above the soil level. Especially for maples, I prune them after the first growth, so they can heal faster. Meanwhile, the leaves develop, feeding on the nutrients stored in the trunk/branches, and that helps the roots establish. "Bonsai" tip, but it works. Bound to be placed in a "grow-box" for bonsai training next spring ;-) : April 2016: Today: Acer caudatifolium. This one seems to be surprisingly strong and resilient, it kept some of its leaves after last winter (which was very mild, OK), it appears to stand full sun or at least part sun most of the year. I'll repot it next spring so it can develop further, I find it very elegant. I'm very happy to have it my collection, thanks again Emery ;-) 30 July 2016: Today, after the heavy rain we had last night: PS: the new leaves are very tender, and probably very tasty for slimey things and various critters...
Great colours on this 'Sango Kaku': ... contrary to my 'Tsuma Gaki' that was left too long in full sun, and didn't recover or push new shoots, even after putting it in the shade:
Alain, I have not thought of my Tsuma Gaki as an outstanding fall color specimen but do appreciate the shape and color throughout the summer. This fall colors are only beginning now in the Pacific Northwest. Here are a couple of pictures of my Tsuma Gaki.
Nice! What I prefer is the tender leaves with the deep red fringe on tender green leaves in the spring, but how I would appeciate the whole tree to look healthy in autumn ;-)
A very tough guy: Acer palmatum 'Butterfly'. I have two, both potted. This one, which was mostly in the sun, is beginning to show that pinkish-purlish colour that is so particular. And the healthier of my two 'Beni Haroromo" is desplaying deep reds (in the background, my first A. p. 'butterfly': jkept in a shaded place, greener leaves) My Acer palmatum 'atropurpureum' has greens ans reds that blend together: ... and the Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon' is at its best through the leaves of the cherry-tree:
Great pictures! Have been trying to get around to posting some to this thread for a while, here goes... 3 of A. caudatifolium, still growing enthusiastically, about 6 of these are well over a meter and perhaps a cm in diameter! 2 of A. circinatum (the species) A. japonicum 'Aconitifolium', ever reliable and nearing peak A. pictum peeking out from the other trees A. shirasawanum subsp tenuifolium (A. tenuifolium) A. pilosum subsp stenilobum Ha, I may only upload 10 files, eh? :) -E
'Sango kaku' and A. capillipes 'Honeydew' A. sieboldianum 'Kinu gasa yama' A. saccharum 'Fairview' A. shirasawanum 'Aureum' 'Gwen's Rose Delight' (aka Shirazz (TM)) A. elegantum (this is the one you sent Alain, thanks! Doing very well and actually gotten much prettier colour since I took the picture.) A. pycnanthum New growth on young 'Butterfly', who thinks it's summer! -E P.S. No idea what happened there. Some pics there 2x, others not at all. Will try to add the missing to another post...
These pictures are wonderful. I'm not sure we'll get much color here in the upper Midwest-- we had a long dry stretch followed by weeks of damp and too much rain. None of the trees look very happy. So please keep posting! Some of us will need to live vicariously this autumn!
All right then ;0) : fine drizzle for a couple of hours this morning, then a very sunny afternoon, temperatures around 19° C. It's hard to find the right settings for a photo in full sun, but here are a few trees that I put so I can see them from the kitchen ('Redwine', 'Hana Matoi', 'Butterfly', a Ginkgo biloba, 'Atro. dissectum' (maybe 'Garnet'), and in the background, Acer monspessulanum - grown from a 10-cm seedling gathered in the south of France more than 20 years ago!): A close-up of the atro. dissectum, the colour is even more flashy in real life. Surprisingly, almost no leaf scroching although it was in a sunny place from 10 am to 17 pm this summer. Another close-up of my 'Redwine', with the sun playing on the greener leaves. Once again, it's almost impossible to catch the vibrant colours on a photo:
Just returned after several days, here are some pictures I took last week. 1,2: AP 'Utsu semi' 3: AJ 'Vitifolium' 4: Acer truncatum 5: A. pseudosieboldianum, Liquidambar styraciflua 'Moonbeam' 6,7: A. sieboldianum 8: View from below the house, with truncatum, Vitifolium, Mirte, Prigo, beurgerianum, cappidocicum, etc. 9. AP 'Linearlobum', 'Higasa Yama', 'Chitose Yama', Variegated selection, etc 10: AJ 'Kujaku nishiki'
And a few more, 1: A. micranthum 'Candlabrum' 2: AP 'Ariadne' 3: view from side entrance of aceretum with variegated selection, Kinran, Utsu semi, AS palmatifolium, Koto no ito, pictum, pensylvanicum, heldreichii ssp trautvetteri, truncatum 'Akikase nishiki', others. 4: A capillipes 'Honeydew' 5: 'Beni tsukasa' with Cornus controversa 'Winter Orange' 6: sieboldianum 'Kinu gasa yama' in full colour 7: A pictum form 8: A. pictum different form with A. sterculiaceum ssp thompsonii in foreground, along with other trees. 9: A. morifolium
So beautiful! what a collection that you have there Emery. This is the best times of the year for JMs to show off their colors. Thank you for sharing. At the Eastern US (Virginia), most of our JM trees are sill green for another few weeks but the other trees in the forest began to change their colors.
Hello Emery . Your collection is splendid, all those photos are a delight. Here the show starts slowly. First are A.p type (iroha momiji 6 hears old), one passes from tender green directly to orange and light red , while an other passes from deep green to purple before painting itself out of orange. They result from the same seedling taken from Japon and are growing in the same substract, like what, in spite of appearences, there is a share of hybridization. The best colours would bee here, as each year, in mid november.
Just back from a week in Portugal where I didn't see any maples (but swam in the Atlantic!). Some of my maples suffered from the lack of rain here too, but some look great: Beni Hagoromo: Lemon Lime Lace: Acer discolor: O-sakazuki: Arakawa: A 50-cm tall Acer palmatum palmatum:
Fall has been slow here, and we had a rough summer season-- first not enough rain, then too much. This is the progression of North Wind over the past few days... It's my favorite JM for fall color.
More photos of the few that have turned so far this year: 1. Baldsmith 2. North Wind 3. North Wind 4. Baldsmith 5. Umegae 6, 7. North Wind
Different Autumn in the Pacific Northwest this year. Much later color changes with some trees three to five weeks later than prior years for color change. These pictures were all from the past few weeks. My Autumn moon lost most of the red color and went to yellow and then just leaf loss. My Tsuma gaki had subtle but attractive fall color that I appreciate. O isami trees had good fall color. I'm anxious for them to get bigger. My Baldsmith (this is one that had a major disease four years ago) has done very well and is now coming to the best season of all) is approaching winter when the structure of the tree is best seen. Finally, the view out our back window (yellow on the right is a Hogyoku and left of that is an Ichigiogi and to the left of that is an Osakazuki, left of that is my Iijima sunago.
