Posts tagged Acer palmatum ‘Waterfall’

Falling for Fall

October 17, 2012 · Filed under grasses, Japanese Maples, perennials, shrubs, trees · Tagged , , , , , ,

I am sure we have all heard of Murphy’s Law. I had just been patting myself on the back for not having a cold since we moved to Barbados. I was a bit worried that I would pick one up every time we flew back and forth, but nada! Till this time… darn it! Just before we left, it struck, so there was no turkey dinner for me this Thanksgiving, hope yours was a lot better.  Sorry for the lack of a post last week, I was still recovering.

My two favorite seasons have always been spring and autumn. And now that I am living in the land of permanent summer, they are even more important to me.

I am sure that everyone knows (after listening to it over and over again) how I feel about spring, but I do not know if I ever harped  told you how much I love fall. I love when the nights start cooling down, and you can have a fire. When you can layer a sweater over a t-shirt and you instantly look more stylish, at least I do. When the food changes to heartier dishes, instead of salads. And when the leaves start turning. Oh the glorious colours they go.  Eastern North America is renowned worldwide for the autumn colours and I certainly missed it when I loved in England. Not that they don’t have some lovely autumns, but there is nothing like a sugar maple in the fall. Not to mention sumac, wow could they be any brighter.  Unfortunately we leave Canada before the height of the fall season, but I am starting to get a little preview.

Looking forward to it getting a bit bigger.

Amazing leaves on the Coral Bark Maple

The coral bark maple is starting to be glorious

 and Hakonechloa ‘Beni Kaze’ is changing colour.

Japanese Maples are amazing, ‘Waterfall’ is green all year, but look at the fall colour,

and ‘Full Moon’ is starting to do its stuff as well.

And look at the mushrooms that have decided to make Kilbourne Grove their home, such a great harvest look. Luckily I don’t like mushrooms, so I look and definitely don’t touch!

Burning Bush at my SIL

Ginkgo

Blueberry

I will miss the full neon effect, but I am glad I was able to get a bit of a taste for fall.

By the way, do you say fall or autumn? I read that autumn was English and fall, American, but I think it is a bit mixed up know. As a Canadian, heavily influenced by both England and America, I say both.

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Gotta Have It: Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’

July 24, 2012 · Filed under perennials · Tagged , ,

I love this little guy, he is sooo cute. A great edger, covering up old bulb foliage and the flowers, don’t get me started on them, they are perfect. Unlike large hosta, where the flowers are spread out up the stem, these are compact and very close together, perfect for a vase as well. And are they large for the size of the plant, wow.

There is certainly a reason Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ was named hosta of the year in 2008.  It has very thick, round and rubbery blue-green leaves, you know that means no slug holes. It grows only to about 8′ high and 12′ across, I planted mine under my Japanese maple, Acer palmatum ‘Waterfall’. It looks lovely (at least I think it well when it finally reaches) with the pale green cut leaves dripping down to the roundish leaves of the hosta.

Carolyn had a whole post about the ‘Mouse‘ series, apparently ‘Blue’ has been a busy boy and spawned a very large family.

Now if he would only get busy and get much fatter, I would love to divide him and enjoy it all over my garden.

 

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A Perfect View

May 11, 2012 · Filed under garden visits · Tagged , ,

This, in my humble opinion, is a perfect view. I could look at this spot forever. Wish it was outside my kitchen window instead of the Deliverance house, I would be happy to wash dishes forever.

It is at the Toronto Botanical Gardens, nestled in between the buildings.

Cercis canadensis ‘Covey’.

Cercis canadensis, both red and alba, along with narcissus and a beautiful waterfall.

I believe this Acer is ‘Waterfall’, perfect in form and name here.

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A Love Affair

August 16, 2010 · Filed under Japanese Maples · Tagged , , ,

I am on a bit of a Japanese Maple kick these days. I blame Loblaws!

They have always been expensive trees to buy and I never once thought about investing in one.  Sure, I thought they were beautiful and I enjoyed seeing them in other people’s gardens.

All photographs taken at Marion Jarvies garden, (not my own, boo hoo).

Last Fathers Day, I started down that slippery slope.  Loblaws had Japanese Maples for sale in two gallon pots for $20.00!!!!!!!!!!

How could I resist? Obviously I couldn’t, so I bought three.

Two of them were ‘Red Dragon’ a red cutleaf variety, and the third ‘Waterfall’ has a green cut leaf.  I put them in pots on my shady terrace in Toronto and enjoyed them all summer.  When winter started approaching, I googled ways to look after them. Margaret Roach one of my favourite garden bloggers, also has Japanese Maples in pots in her garden in upstate New York. She moves them (with a hand truck or dolly) to her barn, where they stay all winter.  I do not have a barn, but I do have a garage, so I thought about this.  But when I was living in Kingston, I used to just bury the plastic growers pot of my ‘Bloodgood’ in the garden. It lived a number of years this way, and when I moved to England, I gave it to my dad.

So last fall, I buried the three plastic pots in my Kitchen Garden and piled a few leaves over top of the pots.  If they did not make it, oh well, I had enjoyed them all summer (and a mighty expensive annual they would be).

This spring they were perfect and I gave myself a major pat on the back. And I had to reward myself, and Loblaws once again led me into temptation.  This year I purchased another ‘Red Dragon’ (what can I say, I love red) and also ‘Butterfly’ a green and white variegated leaf with a bit of pink spring and fall.  This one is not a cut leaf weeper, I was branching out with more of an upright variety.

But there was a Japanese Maple that I had lusted after for many a year. The Coral Bark Maple or ‘Sango Kaku’ was so amazing. The leaves have a red edge on them in the spring, red stems as the leaves turn green in the summer, and the most amazing coral bark all winter.  It is also one of the hardier Japanese Maples.  When I saw it for sale right around my birthday, I knew it was just meant to be.  Not $20, but at only $55 I could not say no.

I thought that it would be easier to photograph the leaves, rather than the whole trees, but the colour is not as great as I would like.  In the top row, we have ‘Red Dragon’ and then also ‘Red Dragon’, however this one is not as red as the first, maybe not as much sun as it is on the other side of the terrace. In the second row, ‘Butterfly’, can you see the tiny bit of pink on the leaf, then ‘Waterfall, and on the end, ‘Sango Kaku’, now in her summer outfit of plain green leaves, but with a lovely strip of red on the stem.

Here you can see (most) of them on our terrace.  In a couple of years I will probably plant them directly in the glazed pots and then will have to follow Margaret Roach’s advice and take them into my garage for the winter, but this year I am going to bury all six in the Kitchen Garden.

Next year, will the love affair continue?

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