Red maples are famed for their autumn show, with fiery tints and golds, but spring give us something special too by way of quite significant flowers, held against bare stems. This photograph taken last March, the 15th, in the arboretum at RHS Wisley. Acer rubrum Red Sunset is a star and together with October Glory are two of the most widely known red maples, both offering excellent orange-red autumn colour. October Glory develops reliably stunning red colour, Red Sunset colouring up a little earlier.
I shall be off to Westonbirt Arboretum in October again, and probably the one at Winkworth too, for my annual fill of these autumn delights. In the meantime I’ll be looking out for flower and taking notes on tree size and shape for future use. The arboretum at Wisley is a great resource for this, acer, rowan, birch, prunus… all conveniently grouped together for easy comparison.
The Teddington Gardener 