I got this maple [ Acer P. Atropurprueum ] from OSH the other day mainly because of the leaf shape and the trim color. I was wondering if the trim will be turning green later or will it remain like this? ( I love the way it is ) All of my other maples are either green or red and I don't see this coloring too often.
If this is just a "regular" atropurpureum, then it is also known as the red leaf maple. Bascially, it's the red-leaf equivalent of the Acer palmatum. I don't know enough of how these are grown or propagated (though I think they are actually grown from seed, not grafted) to know why the leaves are green right now, but I would assume once you get it home and give it sun, the leaves will turn the normal maroon red color through summer. Edit: Check out the photo gallery, it shows the proper reddish color http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=51180
Well I know they propagators usually use seedlings from the red maples in hopes that it will grow into a red maple but green is a more dominating gene, they usually grow into green trees. But I was wondering if anyone ever had a green maple with red trim before that remained red
IE, Yes, the red edge is cool, but unfortunately there aren't any varieties I know of that keep the red edge all year. There are a few that have red tips on the leaves that hold for most of the year, like A.p. 'Shigarami' or A.p. 'Satsuki beni'. There are a few others that have a true "edge" in another color, like A.p. 'Beni shishihenge' (coral pink edge) or A.p. 'Butterfly' (cream edge), but these have a very irregular leaf shape.
Hmm. I didn't know Tsuma beni's red tips would fade. What about Tsuma gaki - will it's leaves fade? There was a large maple in a pot at a local nursery last summer that was unlabeled. When I asked what c/v it was no one knew. At the time I thought it looked like Tsuma gaki. A few weeks later a label marked Tsuma gaki appeared on the tree. I don't know if they contacted the original growers or just decided that's what it was. I'm trying to remember if it's tips lost their red. I don't think so. I hope I would have noticed as their tree pushed Tsuma gaki from my short list to the must have list. I probably would have bought theirs, but it was 1) expensive, 2) showed signs of having two really large branches removed and 3) the full sun they kept it is seemed to be stressing the tree. Edit: now that I'm thinking about it, I do remember late summer thinking the leaves looked poorly, but attributed it to excessive sun. I don't remember now if what I saw was lack of red or normal sun burn. Wish I had a photo.
[ Well Imperfect, I have two A.P. Atropurpureum. They're planted in full sun, and in my case both of them keeps their strong "red purple" color very well. The don't fade (nether trunk or leaves) to green. It remains deep purple color all seasons. Perhaps you need to expose it to some hours of morning sun. Here some pics:
There are plenty of maples with red leaves that won't fade to green in summer (with a little sun exposure.) I think Imperfect was looking for a maple that has green leaves with red tips which wouldn't fade in summer.
