Take a flutter on an acer

It's late April and the feathery acer leaves are starting to unfurl from their delicate husks. Acers, or Japanese maples come in all shapes and sizes and are a great addition to the garden. There are three in my garden.

The oldest is a small (50cm high), almost bonsai shaped one with horizontal branches and feathery green leaves. I keep it in a half barrel pot on the deck. The picture below shows its leaves just coming out last week. There are 100's of cultivars of Maples and I've no idea what this one is. But it looks great.

Next to the lawn, I've got an acer "orange dream" a delicate but vibrant acer thats already sporting a vivid red and orange leaves. Its about 1m high at the moment with multiple slender stems supporting a cloud like array of leaves that change colour through the summer. I got it from a specialist acer nursery 3 years ago and it's a real stunner but unfortunately prone to wind scorch.

The biggest acer is taller than me at about 2.5 high and wide with classic maple leaves. Acer leaves are easily recognisable although they vary in size from from 4-12 cm each with 5,7 or 9 lobes.

The photo below is the same tree late last summer on a sunny day where the whole tree glowed like amber. They all tend to be quite slow growing and can be a bit fussy but take advice and there will always be some to suit your garden.