Acer griseum, stripping, preparing for the spring ; Acer 'Arakawa' - over-rated in my opinion ; Acer 'Sango Kaku' ; Acer 'Bihoo' - the yellow colour of the bark is very difficult to render, much more subtle in real life ; One of the 2020 seedlings from 'Ryusen' hasn't understood it's time to get into dormancy and is still holding green leaves - Ach, junge, junge... ;°)
Bare bones, yes... but it snowed on Tuesday, and today Friday, hardly above zero C, I spotted these two samaras (and flower) on my big palmatum :
Not really bare bones at all, but here are some evergreen maples or semi-evergreen maples, going at the end of January with the first crocuses. Inside on a window sill, Acer albopurpurascens. It is completely frost tender: it dies at even a touch of frost. This seems to be more a condition of my plant rather than the species altogether, but the Taiwanese seed from which this one grew must have come from a frost-free area in the lowlands. From Thailand, some maples that I haven't identified yet, except to say that they're not what was written on the tin! The first may be A. calcaratum, though far from certain. The other two are probably A. laurinum Various green oaks, the large light green is Q. glauca Acer fabri, a US seedling from the Nichols bros. A. laevigatum, from Alain (thanks!) This maple arrived as Acer discolor now recognized as a synonym for A. oblongum. It has been verified as the latter. Some of leaves have minor lobes. That's a little Pinus palustris behind it. A second A. fabri, which lost some leaves in the very cold spell at the beginning of winter. This one hails from Eastern EU. A strange unidentified maple from Crete, either a form of A. sempervirens or A. hyrcanum (ssp. reginae-amaliae). A. coriaceifolium. The burlap is deer protection. This is a grafted plant which has been planted for some years, a seedling still in a pot defoliated in the early freeze. Has spring sprung? Let's hope not. Temperatures have returned to seasonal, around freezing or nearly at night and pleasant enough during the day but keeping below 10C. But a giant high pressure system has moved in, which is keeping the rain out (and we still need it badly) and with the potential to push up temperatures unseasonably.
