Maple Mayhem: Stunning Maples for a Busy Spring Garden

 

Sometimes spring can be little overwhelming. Like a hectic family reunion, everything seems to be in need of your attention. The Daffodils are always showing up before everybody else, the flowering cherries are coming down with a fungus and seem to be sneezing on everyone, and everybody always wants more to drink. It isn’t until autumn that anyone notices the maples. But many Japanese maples have just as many thrills and delights to offer in spring as they do in the fall. Now we know you have plenty to attend to during this busy season, so let us unearth a few great maple varieties that will be the hit of your lively garden.

 

This mouthful of a maple has ruby red spring foliage that turns plum purple with age. Its delicately cut leaves cascade downward on upright branches; giving the tree a slightly weeping form. When the summer heat rolls around, this tough maple takes it in stride. Since its cultivation in 1710, Tamukeyama has been revered by the Japanese as one of the most heat-tolerant lace-leaf maples. By fall, Tamukeyama reverses things and changes all its leaves to a bright crimson red which hang on well into October. This is a great feature plant that grows very slowly to ten feet and works splendidly in formal and informal gardens.   

 

This show-stopping maple is often overlooked by its A. palmatum cousins even though it is just as stunning. It is in a class by itself, quite literally, being designated a new species by renowned Japanese dendrologist Miho Shirasawa. In spring, the unique 13 lobed leaves show off a golden yellow color more often found in the fall. As the summer sun gets higher in the sky, the maple darkens its canopy to a rich chartreuse, accented by pendulous coral red seeds. Then in the autumn, the leaves take on a golden color again, but with an added flare of a bronzy-red margin. Here in the Northwest, this maple needs some dappled shade during our hottest days, so an easterly exposed area of the house would be an excellent place to display this extraordinary maple.     

 

Another nocturnally-themed maple, no less exceptional, is the Autumn Moon.   Like Full Moon, the Autumn Moon is a three season performer.  Early on, while the spring rains are wet and dreary, this vivid maple stirs awake iwth pinkish-mauve new leaves that change to a bronzy read and finally to chartreuse if grown in mostly shade.  If grown in sun, the Autumn Moon will retain some of the interesting bronze colors along the margin of each leaf, giving it an attractive "autumn-like" appearance throught the summer.  At last, when autumn does arrive, the chameleon-like leaves change to a multi-hued orange that hang on until late in the season.  This is an exceptional city tree - slowly growing to 12 feet after several years.

Whether your garden is tumultuous circus of activity or a more reserved peaceful refuge, these maples won't disappoint the most avid garden lover.  Don't let the busyness of spring take away from its beauty.