Acer palmatum dissectum 'Orangeola' -- I just bought and planted a small one, interested to find out if anyone has some photos to share of 'Orangeola' as a mature specimen. I did see several photos on various web sites, but not really of one in a landscape with neighbouring plants, to get a contrast view of its natural or pruned shape and size. My goal was to purchase a Japanese maple which would not grow too tall, and which was weeping/spreading/mounding, and since I couldn't find what I was really looking for this past weekend, a truly dwarf mounding/spreading more shrublike variety with some colour -- without too much driving around -- I settled on 'Orangeola'. I had read about it, though, and thought while I saw one on sale I'd better try it. I am thinking of a contrasting groundcover for underneath this potentially brilliant fall and spring foliage, and wondering about the yellow of Sedum makinoi 'Ogon', which I have elsewhere and could set some pieces in underneath. Secondary question: will groundcovers harm the root region of the Japanese maple, since the roots of the latter are said to be fibrous and network-like underneath, and perhaps close to the surface?
There are some pictures in the Maple Photo Gallery here on this forum. Also, you can try Barbara's Maple Ave. blog. Lots of pictures of various maples. The best picture of Orangeola I believe is in one of her entries on A.p. 'Koto no ito'. She shows her Koto no ito and mentions an Orageola nearby. Here's the link: http://mapledia.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-03-04T21:15:00-08:00&max-results=7
This one, like most dissectums, is a naturally ground hugging plant. If you want to plant a groundcover underneath you should stake and prune the maple to allow light in for the ground cover. Gomero
Thank you to both... it will take me some time to go through that website, but it looks interesting... The 'Orangeola' is immature enough that it won't obscure light from any groundcover for a while...
Hi, Please find attached a photo of my mature Orangeola. Its over 30 years old (a guess) and its 3m wide by 2m. The girth is 40cm and its beautiful from spring to autumn and during winter its twisted trunk look great too. A truly exquisite acer. Andrew
Thank you so much... mine is doing well, I will do a photo soon, only it has a bit of brown-tipping on the top leaves which may be owing to our incredibly dry hot summer here in Victoria BC this summer, or reaction to an anti-deer spray I have been using. Another Japanese maple we successfully nurtured did that the first summer, too. The orangeola is irrigated twice a week, but I may have to start misting it. Yours looks to be in a sunny location, and it survived! Mine has considerable shade until about 2 pm, then dappled sun, so it isn't in a super-bright spot. This is its second summer, first spring-summer was touch-and-go because some immature deer nipped many of the new leaf-out buds off. I kept it caged in netting this spring, now the netting is off and the deer don't really like mature maple leaves.
