Maples For All Year Round Interest
The magnificent 'fall' colours of Canada and the United States owe much to the Maple or Acer family. In this country many people use the outstanding colours that maples provide in their autumn dress to help celebrate that time of year. In addition, gardeners and garden designers are now discovering that some maples offer much more than an inferno of autumn colour. They can bring added visual dimensions to a garden in spring and summer too.
An excellent example of one such maple is the Acer japonicum 'Aureum', also known as Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum'. This plant develops from a deciduous shrub with rounded bushy growth into an elegant tree. On reaching maturity, its foliage gives the impression of growing in horizontal layers across its branches - and what foliage! The rounded lobed leaves are a sharp greenish yellow when they first appear. Soon, however, the colour of the leaves softens to a sunny mid-yellow, which will remain all summer. Some leaves may develop an attractive red margin which adds to the visual interest. In autumn the leaves acquire the familiar, beautiful maple red. An added visual bonus comes in the form of clusters of tiny, reddish-purple flowers which are borne in mid-spring.
Aureum makes a good choice for a specimen tree, in smaller as well as larger gardens. It can enliven an area of lawn if planted as a centrepiece so it is visible from all angles. Alternatively, it may be effective to use Aureum as a focal point in a shrub border, or to mark an entrance into a different part of the garden.
Deciduous maples like Aureum are slow growing and they rarely exceed a height and spread of 6 metres. Choose a moist, fertile, well-drained soil for planting. Shelter from cold or strong winds as the leaves can become brittle and browned if in an exposed situation. It is tolerant of acid conditions and is fully frost hardy. Aureum requires a little attention to keep it growing strongly. If necessary, prune lightly any time from late autumn to mid-winter to remove any straggly growth and maintain shape. Maples, like many deciduous trees, are long-lived and characterful. Their shapes and foliage give them personality and they are ideal for drawing the eye to particular places in the garden. Through the sequence of leaf colour that they express from spring to autumn, they emphasise the cycle of the seasons and have the potential to bring you closer to nature's rhythms.