Some recently taken (last weekend). 1) foreground: 'Waterfall', back: 'Burgundy Lace', 2) Viridis, 3) 'Kihachijo', 4) Shigitatsu Sawa (front), 'Shu sidare' (back), 5) J. 'Vitifolium', 6) S. 'Otake', 7) 'Butterfly', 8) 'Purple ghost'.
Thank you for the compliment, Nelran. I have attached one more photo of the front yard taken today which shows the deep reds of the trees against the lawn. Swanny
Can't post a picture of my "lawn": I'd be sued I'm afraid ! Marigolds, dandelion, violets and various wild flowers including wild orchids, and no chemicals. But spiders (and ladybirds too, later...)
Things are really speeding up now. We're having our second round of July-like weather (mid 80's). and it has really accelerated the growth of just about everything. Enjoy the pics: 1.) View of the yard with garden beds and the Studio peeking out in the background. No, this is not a pic of Dogwoods! There are about a dozen JMs in this shot - most of mine are small fry right now - but you can see them if you look carefully. 2.) Komachi hime. Love it!! 3.) Crimson Queen. An old reliable, and my oldest JM. 10 years since I planted it, and it always looks good. 4.) Peaches n Cream. 5.) Johin. Very nice. 6.) j. Giant Moon. Gargantuan leaves remind me of hot air balloons. 7.) Kinshi blooming. Went crazy this year with blooms. 8.) Rugose. Odd, but I like it. 9.) Orange Dream. 10. Olsen's Frosted Strawberry. Delicious! :)
In my part of England we are still some way behind most of you. Most of the Japanese maples are still in bud, like 'Dissectum Nigrum' (1st pic), or just opening like 'Beni tsukasa' (2nd pic). The nearest to fully open are some Himes or possibly 'Katsura' (3rd), but even they have a way to go yet.
One of my spring favorites for red leafed cvs 'Kasagi yama' A few more: japonicum 'Dissectum', Karasu gawa, Beni schishihenge, Purple Ghost, Villa Taranto Keith
After a long and cold winter in Western Europe, we are having a very sunny and dry month of April which is making our maples leaf out and develop in optimum conditions, mostly free of Pseudomonas (the downside is all that Icelandic ash that this weather pattern is bringing down to us :-((). I am sure that Emery, Maf and other maple enthusiasts north from here will have plenty of nice pictures to show pretty soon. In the meantime last Sunday it was just too pretty not to, so I took many pictures which I have put together as a web album which I can share with you for a few days. I have a tiny, puny garden but thanks to the slope I can pack many more trees than otherwise in a flat terrain with the same surface: I use the third dimension. Also remember that I am in a quasi-mediterranean climate area which is not ideal for Japanese maples. Gomero http://picasaweb.google.com/Gomerro/EarlySpring2010AtGomeroSGarden?feat=directlink
Great slideshow Gomero, thanks for sharing. Nice cat too. It is impossible to pick a favourite but I particularly liked the picture of (what looks like) 'Tsuma gaki', surely one of the best in spring.
Lovely pictures Gomero! My favorites are the 'Higasa yama' (I think) and the 'Usugumo' (or what looks like a pictum cultivar). And to everyone sharing their pictures - thanks! Spring makes the internet more lovely too. My trees are starting to leaf out now, I'll have to contribute a few photos of some of my trees.
Yes, thank you everybody for sharing the photos. Looks like you've done a tremendous amount of work there Gomero and agree with prairie on the 'Higasa Yama', beautiful shot.
Truly both spring and fall are wonderful times for maples. We have a fair number of different varieties and they vary from year to year according to weather so the beauty never repeats exactly. My favorite tree changes with the seasons but also from year to year. In Spring, the acer psuedoplantanus has little parallel. The sycamore maple comes into leaf with wondrous pink that shifts too quickly to green. The others are also from our BC coastal garden.
The leaves are still emerging on many of the Japanese maples here in central England, and a very few even remain at the bud stage. Here are pictures of some newly formed leaves, taken yesterday.
Here are my spring pics, I just took them today with my brand new cheap Costco camera. Their leaves are on average 6 weeks old. 1. Ao Shime no Uchi 2. Aratama 3. Atropurpureum - is this supposed to be red or green now? 4. Autumn Moon 5. Baby Lace - Hates the sun 6. Beni Hime 7. Beni Hoshi 8. Beni Komachi - very shiny red 9. Beni Otake - it looks more red than this photo 10. Beni Shichihenge - cannot see the difference with Kagiri nishiki 11. Bloodgood 12. Bonfire - very young, my youngest 13. Burgundy Lace 14. Butterfly 15. Chisio - cannot see difference to Shindeshojo except lighter pink 16. Eagles Claw - very dwarf, can't get it up 17. Emperor 1 - kinda sick, all leaves looks deformed but not dry 18. Filigree 19. Fireglow 20. Geisha - my latest bloomer this year 21. Golden Full Moon - like painted flourescent marker 22. Goshiki Kotohime - slowest grower 23. Higasayama - leaves look beautiful but crisp to the touch and little dry - is that ok? 24. Hogyoku - boring green for now 25. Kagiri Nishiki - no difference with beni shichihenge 26. Kasagi Yama - highly sensitive to the sun, I almost burned it 27. Katsura 28. Kihachijo 29. Koto no Ito 30. Mikawa Yatsubusa - another slow grower, roots takes too much space 31. Omureyama - kinda sick too, only a few leaves but all look healthy 32. Orange Dream - my favorite, louminous green yellow glow 33. Oridono Nishiki - looks the same like Versicolor, mine has bark problems on the trunk
34. Osakazuki - boring color in the Spring 35. Oshio Beni - my 2nd sickest plant now, only a few leaves usually on the tips that are looking more discolored everyday 36. Peaches and Cream - another sun hater, I'm having trouble hiding this from the sun 37. Red Pygmy - not as red as I want it to be 38. Reticulatum - name is Illegal according to Peter Gregory, don't tell anybody I mentioned its name here 39. Sango Kaku 40. Scolopendrifolium - cannot see difference with Red CLoud I saw once 41. Seiryu 42. Shaina 43. Shigitatsu sawa - another late bloomer 44. Shin CHisio - no diffreence with chisio, what's the shin for? 45. Shindeshojo - also no difference with deshojo that I saw once 46. Shirazz - the seller I bought this too said its supposed to be called gwen's somthing but trade name wins legal suit 47. Shishigashira 48. Shojo 49. Suminigashi - my tree actually looks much redder than this photo 50. Tiger Rose 51. Toyama Nishiki - I don't like its spring color 52. Trompenburg - nice red, but too shiny 53. Tsukushigata - I bought this and its the only red one from all its deep purple brothers, I hope its not the sick one 54. Tsumagaki - is this different from Saku? 55. Ukigumo - I bought this on sale, so it has a weird shape, a thick long trunk 8 feet tall but only short side growths 56. Villa Taranto - new growths look really red and thick while lower foilage are green thins 57. Viridis - not sure what's the difference to waterfall 58. Winter Flame - bark is green last year then went red in winter and now its orange I'm not entirely sure about their names, I just followed the nursery's tags, I also have some that the nurseries cannot name, I hope you can help me identify them
Here are my JMs that I cannot identify... Pic 1 - leaves are same size as chisio or shindeshojo but its color is light yellow, bark is much lighter Pic 2 - a mature weeping dwarf that my rich idiot neighbor just pulled out from the ground (renovating) and threw to the garbage, I saved it but it was partially damaged. Pic 3 - close up of leaves of Pic 2 Pic 4 - a tall red lace leaf that seems like weeping but is 8 feet tall and no signs of grafts in the straight up trunk.
My garden suffered several losses of younger plants this Spring but the survivors, for the most part, look fantastic. 'Aka Shigitatasu Sawa' and 'Koriba' keep drawing me out the back door for another look.
I've attempted to take some snaps and put them on Picasa. First time, so hopefully it will work. Very windy, and still early here for palmatums, but some others are glorious. http://picasaweb.google.com/117924576417328929035/May2010YardPhotos# -E
Great album Emery, thanks. Your pseudoplatanus CVs are so much more pink than mines, this is something I am trying to figure out: why 'Brilliantissimum', 'Prinz Handjéry', etc. do not color well in a warm zone 8 climate? Otherwise what is the species of pic 30? Gomero
Heh, my garden is pretty humble compared to yours Gomero. But I enjoy it. :) My lack of shade does limit how I can plant palmatums -- not to mention the wind! Actually Brilliantissimum, which is the deepest of the pinks, was quite early and has faded somewhat by the time these were taken. The current champion is Puget Pink, but only because it's just leafing out. I don't know what might make the difference in color between here and the SW, but I will say that many of the native sycamores are very showy with pinkish, dark red or purple new leaves. (And others are very bland, there seems to be a great deal of variation naturally.) The maple you're wondering about is Acer platanoides 'Drumondii'. Here, in full sun, it performs very well and is a showy cream early. Of course the saddest picture is A. distylum, subject to sudden spring wilt (after a successful inaugural year last season) and almost certainly dead. I started with 2, one wilted last year upon planting, this one leafed out and then, thump. :( -E
@ Emery How long does the pink last on individual leaves before they change to green? We planted Brilliantissimum about 12 years ago. In early days, it was our spring favorite, holding pink on new leaves for many days. Now, the leaves come out that wonderful pink but fade to green in a few days. The tree may get a bit more light than it did before because a shading Hemlock has been removed. However it still is lightly shaded most of the day. We stopped fighting moss in the lawn nearby so the ground may stay wetter now than before because of moisture held in the moss.
IB, I haven't noticed the exact length, but certainly over a month. It's been going for about 3 weeks already and is still quite strong. Forgot to note that it's pretty well shaded, gets direct sun only for a few hours around noon. -E