This spring, I chanced upon some dwarf Japanese maples, and Acer palmatum ‘Beni-hime’ found its way into my nursery cart. ‘Beni-hime’ grows painstakingly slow, no more than two inches (5 cm) a year, eventually forming a dense, spreading mound about 40 x 40 inches (1 x 1 m) in size. However, when planted in a container, it doesn’t reach its potential size, and stays at 24 x 24 … [Read more...] about Dwarf ‘Beni-hime’ Japanese maple perfect for container
Japanese maple
Moving shrubs in autumn
I walked out early this morning to find a thin layer of frost across the garden. This is the first frost of the season, and a clear sign that gardening time is growing short. The list of things to be done is long: planting tulip and hyacinth bulbs; cutting back some perennials (and leaving others for winter interest); digging out aggressively spreading weeds; and moving … [Read more...] about Moving shrubs in autumn
Japanese maples on a budget
Apart from fall-blooming perennials, the big show this season is colourful autumn foliage. Leaving out enormous trees like sugar maple (Acer saccharum, Zone 5), nothing approaches the vivid tones of Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, Zone 6). These are small trees and shrubs, suitable for almost any garden where there is half a day of sun and moist, organic well-drained soil. In … [Read more...] about Japanese maples on a budget
