Japanese maple. Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum’
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Plants and Bulbs | 32 comments
I bought this little tree on eBay three years ago. It looks bereft now in autumn and it is rapidly losing its leaves. They have turned from dark purple to a stunning red. For nine months it delights me. The foliage is small, dainty and exquisite. I had always thought that Japanese maples were a bit prinky, until I got one. Somehow this diminutive tree has crept under my skin. I would like to buy more.
Old friends had a large one in a stone pot in their garden and it looked superb. I was disappointed when mine arrived. It looked so small and tatty. Somehow I imagined that it would magically have thick foliage from day one like the tree I had seen at my friends’.
I potted it on in year two and it settled down and started to look much happier. This year it has really come into its own and loved the rainy summer. I plan to move it to a bigger pot in the spring.
Our acer lives near the east facing back wall of the cottage so it gets morning sun and shade in the afternoons. I reckon that during its first two summers it needed more water than it was given. Next year I am planning to set up automatic watering for the pots at the back of the cottage as they easily get forgotten when we are busy.
These Japanese maples are slow growing trees. In the spring and summer the delicate leaves of our specimen are a dark burgundy colour which looks pretty as a contrast to the pale walls of the cottage. In autumn, the leaves turn to this superb red. When I moved the scented geraniums out of the pots beside the back door, I replaced them with the maple so that we can see it when we open the door and enjoy the autumn colour as the leaves fall.
Maples can be expensive to buy but a brief foray onto the Internet this morning tells me that they are a cut price bargain in the Autumn and Winter. Thompson and Morgan is selling an 18 specimen for £8.99. So if you would like to own one this would be the perfect time to buy one. You wouldn’t really start to enjoy the little tree until the Spring but the saving would make it worth the wait.
Leave a reply
I have 2 Acers been unlucky with both I feed weekly water every night in pots inthe sun all day the leaves on both curl up go brown drop off and regrow but both plants are not florishing have found ants in their compost could this be the trouble Ihave had one plant 12months and other 4weeks
Hi Julian
I forgot to water mine for a few weeks in the summer and it has struggled ever since as it’s in a pot.
I think that I need to pot it on and give it a good feed.
Mine lost all leaves about a month ago, and i have new buds coming…..really strange
cheers kate, it did happen overnight, which is why i was concerned.
thanks for setting my mind at rest.
Yep.
Acers in pots loose their leaves earlier than acers in the ground and more suddenly- they can loose just about every leaf overnight as soon as it gets coldish, they don’t wait for a frost.So acers can be the very first thing in the garden to go bald in autumn.
my acer has lost all its leaves,
is this normal for the time of year?
I have just bought 2 japanese maples and was a bit worried about how to look after them but all your comments have reassured me I am doing the right things. Thankyou!
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll give them a go and let you know what happens!
Loretta
Hi Loretta
Our Acer thrives in an east facing aspect (just morning sun . I think that your acers might be drying out and that’s why the leaves have gone crisp. This did happen to me once with our Acer. I forgot to water it and it looked very peaky so I fed it for a couple of days and then watered it morning and evening. It’s not standing in a saucer so any excess water drained out to the ground. All the dry leaves fell off but within a week or so new shoots appeared.
Put your Acers in large pots, in an eastern aspect and water them well once every day in hot weather and they will thrive.
Hi,
I bought my firt two acer’s about a couple of months ago. They are potted and were doing very well until the last couple of weeks. Many of the leaves have gone crispy and dry. The instructions they came with suggested that they did well in full sun. I have them in a spot where they get the sun from about 12-6pm. Have I put them in a spot with too much sun, despite what the instructions said? Or is there something else you know of which could have caused the leaves to dry up?
Please help – they are such beautiful trees and I do not want to loose them!
Loretta