At long last the leaves on the trees hereabouts have begun to change their colors in earnest. Some have gone from green to fallen with only the briefest transition.
After we put the addition on our house a few years back, we redesigned our front bed. We removed the 70 year old pfitzers and hemlock, so typical of the landscaping of the 1940s and 50s, created a bed outlined by dry-laid limestone, and planted it with two Japanese maples, azaleas, and rhododendrons. In the spring and summer we plant annuals.
The picture above is one of the two Japanese maples. Rather than the more commonly seen Acer palmatum varieties it’s Acer shirasawanum ‘Aureum’. As you can see rather than the purplish-red typical of the leaves of the palmatum, its leaves turn a beautiful orange and gold. During the year it’s a light green.
Our other Japanese maple, also not a variety frequently encountered, is most dramatic in the spring but I may take its picture in a day or so if it develops nice color.
If you look closely through the window, you can see Nola wondering what the heck I’m up to out here and why she isn’t with me.
I planted a Japanese Maple for my wife’s first Mother’s Day, and its her favorite plant, which she insists that we transplant if we ever move. I hope it survives. We planted ours fairly close to the house, similar to yours it appears. I don’t know if that was foreknowledge or simply the desire to have the leaves close enough to see, but I don’t believe Japanese Maples do well down here exposed to much wind and will eventually die in the open. It did get frost damage on the top several years ago, which had to be removed.
Rather than the more commonly seen Acer palmatum.
I had two of those in the yard of my house back East. Quite tall. They were — and I hope, still are — beautiful at this time of year, when the sun slants low and the light streams through the leaves. I described those sun-struck leaves as looking like masses of rubies trembling in the breeze. I really miss those trees.
Nice to see you use the uncommon varieties – most people don’t even know there are differences.
Great fall color out here this year. Best ever for our Paperbark maples, parrotias and viburnums. Trees along the road have had god color and we havent had a big storm to knock them off.
Steve
We have 3 Japanese Maple trees forming an umbrella over a pond. They’re just beautiful in the spring, with the new green leaves, as well as now with their vibrant colors — two yellow and one deep red, in our particular configuration. In a few weeks, though, we’ll be scooping all those leaves out of the water.
Our redwood is. . . um, still pretty much green. But a grayish green.