If you appreciate van Gogh in art, or Chopin in music, then you should appreciate the subtle 'atmospheric' elegance and natural beauty of maple as a plant in your garden. Maples here refer to both North America native and oriental maples. Although North America native maples are ornamental as trees, they are generally too big for home garden (not to mention their extensive surface root systems), and are better suited for woodland gardens and parks. The oreintal maples are, however, essential home landscape materials. It would be difficult to find another family of trees that has such a wide spectrum of ornamental characteristics as oriental maples, and with striking display attributes rival or exceed those of flowering perennials. These maples are native to Japan, China and Korea, but are only known as 'Japanese maple' in the West. They are highly developed and form essential features in Japanese gardens, and the cultivar selections seen in Japan are the envy of gardeners around the world.
We consider ourselves fortunate that we live in a part of Onatario where these maples survive reasonably well. However, the under appreciation of these maples in common home landscapes in Ontario make it a challenge to find and collect more varieties. I suppose one cannot expect everyone who has a garden to like van Gogh or Chopin. ( Ironically, it appears that, in recent years, having a common red leaf maple like 'Bloodgood' in a home garden appears 'fashionable'. )
There are additional challenges to grow oriental maples in our garden; like fighting the destructive rabbit pests, and water supply limitation etc. We have lost many oriental maples due to neglect, draught, and diseases over the years. Although we are no longer fanatic about collecting maples like we were many years ago, we have just started to selectively add more maples to our garden each year.
We have seen occasional self-sown maple seedlings appearing here and there in the past. Last year many more seedling appeared. This year, the self-sown seedlings exploded in the garden every where, probably because of the unusual weather conditions in the last couple of years. It seemed to be a shame to just weed them out when cleaning the beds in spring. So we potted as many of them as we can spare the time in between chores. I don't know what we are going to do with them as they grow up in the next few years. Most of them will be the common root stock materials. Some may have enough distinct ornamental characteristics to be kept. We will likely plant a fair number of them at our cottage in a Zone 4 area for trial, assuming they survive the coming winter.
Young maples starting off in spring .....
We are always eager to see pictures of maples in a garden setting. Most maple pictures we saw on the internet and in books appear to focus on closeup of the leaves or as boring lawn specimen trees. (The few good pictures we came across were typically in the Japanese garden contexts in Japan. Even so, the name of the varieties shown were generally not identified.) The availability of seasonal changes of various maples also seems limited (at least not enough to satisfy our desire to see more.).
The purpose of this page is mainly to provide a brief summary of our maples, and help me review their status for future improvement of our collection. It may contain some info that is of some use to other gardeners. We tried to include pictures of maples in a garden setting here. We also tried to show seasonal changes of each variety. However, the varieties we have are very limited. We hope that other gardeners wih more varieties can share their pictures in their pages.
You can see the pictures of a few selected maples by invoking the buttons on the left, or simply scroll down. I hope to improve my photography gradually in the next few years; so bear with me for now.
I have to admit that I have not spent much time attempting to identify the native maples surrounding us at home and at our cottage. I just take them for granted. The pictures here are just a few maples that are growing wild at home and at the cottage
No particular notable attribute.
Typical refreshing spring green.
The summer colour is a darker green.
The autum colour is typically ranging from yellow to bright red....
Trident's distinctively three-lobed leaves turn red to burgundy in the fall. It is a popular subject in Japanese bonsai. In fact, I acquired it many years ago intended for that purpose. My tree is more than 10 years old, and is about 3 m.
Typical spring green.....
Typical spring green......
Typical summer green.....
The autum colour is usually brilliant orange to red.
A refined small tree with exquisite leaf colour and pattern that are quite striking. This tree is more than 15 years old, and is located is a shaded location (probably more than 60%) and sees afternoon sun. It remains small (about 2.5 m) likely because of the poor soil and shade.
The characteristic translucent shrimp pink leaves with exquisite and delicate marble patterns.
The pink tone faded somewhat as the season progress.
The summer colour may not be as dramatic. It still stands out among any trees.
The autum colour can be brilliant, but this cannot be reliably expected.
Probably the most common Japanese maple in the home gardens. Its size, dark red leave colour, refined leaf shape, and hardiness makes it an ideal landscape tree for home gardens. We have 8 or 9 'Bloodgood' spread around the garden. All are more than 15 years old and range from approximately 2.5 to 5 m height. Some are in shade and others are in full sun. (I have not been taking picture of 'Bloodgood'. The only pictures that I can show here are more or less cropped from pictures that are intended for other purposes.)
Typical of all red Japanese maple.
The dark red colour is more pronounced in spring.
The summer colour may have green tone emerging, and the extent depend on the sunn exposure.
The autum colour is typically bright red.
A refined little tree with showy pink spring colour leaves that are small and delicate. This tree is more than 15 years old. However, it was kept in a pot until about 6 years ago. It is planted in a very shady spot (more than 60%). Rabbit destroyed about one third of it in winter 2006. It is about 2 m in height now.
The pink tone faded somewhat as the season progress.
The summer colour may not be as dramatic; just delicate green.
The autum colour is typically brilliant orange.
This is a very popular cascading red cutleaf maple with good reasons. The one under the crabapple tree is more than 15 years old and is about 1.5-2.0 m high and spread. It is probably in 70% shade. The one next to the thuja was kept in pot for a few years and was planted in its current location about 8 years ago. It is about 1.0-1.5 m, and is in about 40% shade with morning sun.
(No pictures available for now)
Nice dark red leaves that hold their colour well into summer.
The summer colour may have significant green tone depending on the sun exposure.
The autum colour can be brilliant, but this cannot be reliably expected.
A non-cutleaf small maple with red leaves that hold its colour well into the summer. One valuable attribute of this maple is the relatively dwarf structure. This specimen is morethan 18 years old, and is about1.5 m high and spread. It is located in about 30% shade.
Dark red leaves when they first appeared.
Nice dark red leaves that hold their colour well into summer.
The summer colour may not be as distinct as other maple. It still stands out among other trees.
The autum colour can be brilliant, but the extent varies depend on the weather for the year.
A maple that is reputed to have the most brilliant red fall colour among maples. Apart from the fall colour, we like its elegant leaf form and tree structure. We probably still have about five in the garden. They are all more than 10 years old, but some of them were kept in their pots for quite a few years. The ones that arenot heavily pruned are probably about 3 m high. One of them was severly pruned by rabbits a few years ago and remain about 2 m high. Another was heavily pruned over the years to share space with a cherry tree.
The characteristic translucent light green leaves with slight pink tone at the edge.
The refreshing green leaves with the typical red stalks of its flowers.
The summer colour would be soft pleasant green.
The autum colour is typically brilliant red
Noted for its showy pinky cream spring colour leaves with a delicate pattern, and is very popular. This plant is about 4 years old, and is about 0.8 m high. It is located in about 60% shade.
The characteristic light green leaves with slight pink tone at the edge.
The flowery pattern of the creamy pink leaves makes 'Peaches and Cream' a very popular maple.
The summer colour would soft pleasant green with a creamy touch. (Sorry for the picture. I will take a better one next summer.)
Not noted for its fall colour, but I will take this any day...
A nice little tree with graceful leaves, and light orangy yellow fall colour that contrast well with other darker red fall colour. The 'Red Pygmy' we have is not as red as it used to probably because of shading by other trees surounding it growing up over the years. It is more than 18 years old, and is about 3.5-4.0 m high.
The new leaves are not particularly distinct from most other green maple
The reddish lacy spring leaves of this maple make it a class of its own.
The summer colour would induce a lot of soft green tone.
Nice orangy yellow fall colour...
Seiyu is well known as the only upright form of cutleaf maple. As a tree, I consider it one of the most ornamental trees that is hardy to our climate. In particular, its graceful leaves, artistic branches, and the reliable spectacular brilliant red fall colour are attributes that make it perfect for any gardens. This tree is more than 18 years old, and is about 3.5-4.0 m high. It is located in more than 70% shade.
The tree with the most gracefu green leaves in spring.
(Pictures to come.)
(Pictures to come.)
This fall colour of this maple is one of the best...
One of our favourite maples with exquisite leaf pattern and brilliant showy fall colour. Very few trees are as elegant as this. This tree is more than 15 years old, and is about 3.0 m high. It is in about 30% shade.
The characteristic translucent delicate light green leaves.
The exquisite distinct pattern of the 'Shigitasusawa' leaves in spring.
The summer colour would remain soft pleasant green with less distinct leaf patterns.
It has one of the best brilliant fall colour quite reliably...
The most outstanding feature of this maple is its brilliant red leaves in spring. It is more than 18 years old. Its size was controlled by pruning until a few years ago. It is now about 2 m high, and is in about 20% shade.
One of the most brilliant red spring leaf maples....
The red colour gradually become darker and less brilliant before turning greenish in summer.
The summer colour would soft pleasant green with red tip for the yound shoots and new terminal leaves.
Not noted for its fall colour, however, the leaves remain interesting until hit by heavy frost.
Its general characteristics are not very distinct from 'Bloodgood' except for smaller and more refined leaves. This tree is more than 18 years old, and is about 4 m high. It is in about 5% shade.
Similar to 'Bloodgood'.....
(Picture not available)The spring leaves are not unlike 'Bloodgood'; a nice dark red.....
The summer colour is also similar to 'Bloodgood' redish with green overtone....
Although it is not often noted for outstanding fall colour, we found it reliably showed its fall colour as brilliant as most others...
This maple has interesting spring new leaves with orange edge and gives an impression of orange leaves. Eventhough the intensity of the orange colour is not reliable, it is still an interesting tree that stands out among the common trees. We have four trees left. They are all more than 10 years old. The most wholesome one is about 3.5-4.0 m and is in about 60% shade. One of them suffer the dreaded stem rot many years ago, but it bounds back unexpectedly from near the root stock. One of them is still in a 5 gallons pot and appears still reasonably contented.
The characteristic orange colour sping leaves.
The spring colour transition from strong orangy edge to light orangy edge....
The summer colour would be soft green.
It can have very outstanding fall colour ; even in a bad year it still looks quite attractive.....
A maple that is famous for its pure cream spring colour; another favourite of ours. Our tree is more than 10 years old, but it was kept in the pot until about 6 years ago. Also one of the main branches reverted to ordinary green, and had to be pruned off. It also suffered some rabbit damage after it was planted in the ground. It is now about 2 m high, and is in about 70% shade.
The characteristic cream colour sping leaves.
The famous cream colour leaves.....
The summer colour would soft pleasant green with a creamy touch. (Sorry for the picture. I will take a better one next summer.)
Not noted for its fall colour, I will take this any day...
One of the most common Japanese maple on the market here. It is a highly ornamental plant for any garden design. We have two in the garden. Both are more than 18 years old, and attain a high and spread of about 1.5 m. They are both in about 50% shade. (Note: 'Viridis' is no longer classified as a variety name. It is used as a class name for the group of maples that have similar appearance. )
The characteristic lacy, bright and lively green leaves .
The drooping lacy and tiny red flowers are the prettiest feature of 'Viridis'.
The summer colour would still be graceful pleasant green,
Not noted for its fall colour, can be as good as any..
This is the famous 'Full Moon' maple. Its fame arises from the unique untra-refreshing spring green that no other plants can match. Our biggest specimen was unfortunately killed by a junk tree. Currently, we have 3-4 of them spread around the garden. They are all more than 6-7 years old, but are still quite small ranging in height from 1-3 m.
The characteristic spring green leaves of 'Full Moon'.
Probably one of the most unique and beautiful spring green colour....
The summer colour remains a very attractive green eventhough it is not as striking as the spring green.
Its fall colour can be beautiful brilliant orange red, but it cannot be reliably expected....
When the way comes to an end, then change. Having changed, you pass through.
I Ching
