When is a Fireglow really a Autopurpureum?

I have seen a few trees called Fireglow, but I am not sure I have actually seen one at all. If I am using Vertrees and Gregory 3 ed as my primary reference, surely I have never seen one. I am still looking for those bright pink leaves which marks this tree a true Fireglow or the brilliant red leaves of summer which sets it apart from the darker leaves of Bloodgood. I have seen lighter red leaves on trees, but to tell you the truth, I don't think I have every even seen a real Bloodgood as well. The leaves of all these Bloodgoods are never as richly colored or as dark as it is show or described. However my question is really about Fireglow, has anyone ever seen these bright pink leaves of spring as described in the books? All of these trees I have seen are for sure grafted, so there in lies my next question, are people grafting Autopurpureum to Autopurpureum? Then I have to ask, are we all that mixed up, about what we are doing? All of the trees I have the Fireglows, my one Bloodgood to include my single Trompenburg are all the exact same color, which is a deep dark burgundy right now. I am looking at a leaf from each tree backed by a white sheet of paper and there isn't a shade of difference between them. Thank god the Trompenburg is a matsumurae or I would not know what it was either.

De evidence mounts to, I have a ley full of expensive Autopurpureum, with nay a Fireglow nor Bloodgood among demm.

 

It has been said before, and it will be said again, and again, and again .......
The colour you get on your 'Fireglow' or indeed your 'Bloodgood' or 'whatever' in Virginia will very seldom be the same colour I get on the same plant here in Ireland
The variables are enormous
Indeed ... the colours I get on my own plants vary from year to year depending on climatic conditions
And then there is the strength of the sun
And the soil
And shade no shade
And moisture
And Ph
And ....
And ....
And ....
And then sometimes they are seedlings and not grafts
And then sometimes they are indeed mis-named
If you look at the short video of .Maple Marvels. you will even see the striking variables in colour on any plant DURING the season, so that the colour you see one week can be quite different a few weeks later
I have long since stopped trying to generalise with Japanese Maples
I just enjoy the variables these days .........

 

Yea well I am not buying any more of these variables, I need it to be what I want and I don't want mid range purple leaves anymore. I think I will just get out my chain saw today and tune it up.

 

Hot climates and sites fade them. In Virginia you will probably want to be planting purpleleaf Japanese maples where shaded substantially by taller trees or buildings. Even here in cool summer western Washington, where these are often grown in full sun there can be a marked difference in color retention between a specimen in a liberally watered or otherwise abnormally cool and humid location and one that is not. I have seen still-purple specimens on small urban lots with lush lawns (this indicates heavy watering on many sites in our dry summer climate) right next door to faded out ones. It seems that even in a frequently watered nursery sales yard the heat from pavement and full sun exposure is often just too strong, resulting in a bronzed and burnt appearance during summer from cultivars promoted as being fading resistant. Secondary growth flushes produced at this time will be markedly darker, when new.

 

Hi Richard I have FG1 (another synonym )is very similar to autopurpureum for 3/4 years ,the distintive coulors (in Italy)appared after this date the leaves remaing purpureum in the summer this is the most different between FG1 and atropurpureum .["This cultivar is raised by Fratelli Gilardelli Italy (FG1)and named by W.J. Spaargaren, Netherlands in 1977 " by Maples for Gardens D.M.van Gelderen and C.J. van Gelderen Timber Press ]if you wont see the site www.gilardelli.it alex

 

OK Richard
Post me your 'Fireglow'
I am sure it will be a beauty like all Japanese Maples (LOL)

 

This is all good but my question is taken from a statement in the book, the Fireglow has bright pink leaves in spring, has anyone seen em any of those bright pink leaves? That's all, but you have all posted excellent replies.

 

There's a grafted clonal cultivar 'Atropurpureum' in Europe. In North America any purpleleaf Japanese maple that isn't weeping, laceleaf, or belong to another morphologically variant type is an atropurpureum, as in forma atropurpureum.

 

Which color pink were you thinking? How pink do you imagine this plant might get and is it possible that what you are fixated on in the text, while factual in nature, might have a context or limit to what can dependably and reliably be seen? Is this plant of an atropurpureum descent?

 

Two beauties Galt

 

Interesting debate.
First, no matter where you grow a maple (species or cultivar) there are some genetic traits that are always present: leaf shape and leaf arrangement, plant shape, color (i.e.: green, red or variegated). A Fireglow, for example, has a leaf and plant shapes easy to tell from other Atropurpureums.
Then for traits that are dependant on site, soil, sun, etc., like exact coloring, growth rate and ultimate height, to me the best reference would be to use trees grown under conditions that reproduce the natural habitat of the trees. Unfortunately it is difficult to assess, when information is provided, whether or not this is the case. In this sense it would be nice if we had more contributions from Japan. Coincidentally the only book coming from Japan (Jamo) does not contain height information on cultivars, though it has many pictures (are the colors real and coming from plants grown under 'natural habitat' conditions???)

Gomero

 

I have a book from Japan (by Yano) which gives very little information on any of the different cultivars named in it
Fireglow appears to be an Italian introduction (by Gilardelli) named as late as 1977
It is not mentioned in the first edition of Vertrees, and the only reference I can find to it is in Van Gelderen's Maples for Gardens. He says it is very similar to Bloodgood, Moonfire and Nuresagi but retains a better shape
With Japanese Maples one picks up a little information here, and some more there etc. So far as colour is concerned are the book reproductions even real? much less are they pics from natural habitats?

 

Well where is Alex when you need him? Alex you are in Roam, so please go and get your camera and find an us an Italian Fireglow , you may need to buy a Panasonic TZ1 to take this shot, do it in the micro auto setting at one meter or less, we must be sure we are see the correct color rendering. Post it here and then we can all have a good hard look at it. Please reply Alex, or how do you put it, please reply right now.

 

Fireglow

Something like that?

 

Fireglow at Esveld Gallery

http://www.esveld.nl/~laur/gallery....m&pic=/plantdias/65/65542.jpg&id=2617&lan=eng

 

None of Esveld's pictures show the pink that Richard is searching for
Maybe the second pic at Gilardelli is what he is missing?

 

There is a big difference between pink and rose-pink or rose-red and how each color can appear in the light or various qualities of light. A rose overtone on red can be lit up quite nicely in a filtered-light setting, but it is not going to seem that way in bright sunlight as the red will be the predominant color. A color like rose-red or pink-red can last as little as week and this cast may be seen on the first new gowth but not the very first emergent spring growth.

The maple I picutured above is the "pinkest" red maple I have seen, but it is certainly not a Fireglow. Not sure what to tell you this topic...but I think there might be some unreasonable expectation about what the plant should and can look like.

 

Have you managed to develop a new 'treasure' Galt?
Should I prepare a new space in my garden?

 

HI Richard I send pic of my FG1 next week (I have manual YASHIKA old 1992!!)I send one mail to Gilardelli and ask where is the nursery that have original FG1 in Virginia ,if I received reply ;I reply in the forum (°_°)however Galt pics is very similar to my FG1 Ciao alex[/COLOR

 

Whis4ey,

Now I won't take any credit for that maple as I only found it among some Bloodgood maples. Not realy sure what its story is or if that color will be a year in and year out display, but this spring it was late to leaf out but the color looks promising. You can tell in the photos above that lighting can effect the presentation of the color as it is the same maple under different lighting conditions, but overall, there is definately a rose hue that lasted longer than most I have seen, probably a couple of weeks.

Here it is again this year with the first leaves mostly expanded, but still not to the point of the photos above. It is in different exposure this year to see what it does. Mabye it is one of the Fireglows.....

 

It is certainly a little beauty
Will be interesting to see if it retains these characteristics as it matures. If it does you could well have a real 'find' on your hands

 

Hi Richard this is my F.G.1!! date photo last week machine: Yashica MP108 film kodak 200asa exp 125 f16