Japanese Maple: Acer palmatum ‘Seiryu’ & Update: Begonia ‘Encanto Red’

Acer palmatum ‘Seiryu’ (Zones 6-8)

Henry Mitchell, author and garden writer extraordinaire, once said of his garden, “it is the cycle, not the instant, that makes the day worth living”. I agree. Enriching the garden experience year-round is the raison d’être of one of my favorite plants, award-winning Acer p. ‘Seiryu’. The plant is quite unique, one of the few Japanese Maple upright dissectum cultivars. Conventional lace-leaved maples weep or cascade.

In the Fall, this lovely multi-branched tree’s fine, bright green foliage turns into a handsome palette of autumnal colors. As evidenced by the photos below, the colors are constantly mixing and changing; ultimately, before the leaves drop, they settle for a spectacular fiery display. And did I mention that Seiryu’s bark is a fabulous shade of green?

Japanese Maples flourish in shade, in well-drained acid soil with adequate water. In my organic garden, Seiryu has been a vigorous grower and disease free. Seiryu means blue-green dragon. Surely every garden needs one of those.

My tree came from RareFind Nursery. (See LINKS)

Update: Begonia ‘Encanto Red’

Speaking of interesting growing cycles, Begonia ‘Encanto Red’ deserves an updated mention. (See the June 3, 2013 blog post, “Beguiling Begonias”.) Encanto Red is a summer-fall, non-stop annual. In the Spring, pop it into a container in a bit of shade and then stand back and enjoy: As the months go by, the flower show gets better and better. (May-October photos below tell the story.)