Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku'

Planted in a border by our main car park, this is one of the most flamboyant Acer cultivars and more commonly known in the U.K. as the coral bark maple.

As a garden plant this is renowned for its bright red winter stems which give great winter interest from late autumn when the leaves fall until spring when the new foliage emerges.

The delicate leaves are pale green, edged with pink initially, slowly turning a darker shade of green as the summer progresses. In autumn the leaves once again change colour, turning a clear apricot yellow again tinged with shrimp pink before they fall.

Although planted in a reasonably woody area, we have managed (with a bit of formative pruning on the taller trees around it) to create a position which is in light, dappled shade through the hot summer months and yet is in full sunlight in early - late autumn as the sun sits lower in the sky. This causes the autumn leaves to glow with colour on a sunny day.

Our Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' is in the region of ten years old and has reached a height of 2.5 m (8 ft) tall. The mature bare stems can be gently washed with a soft brush and water in the winter months once the leaves have fallen, to remove algae and dirt from the stems and make them even more colourful.

Further information about growing this delightful Japanese maple can be found on my website by clicking on the following link: Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' at Bluebell Nursery