Sango-Kaku

Coral Bark Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum “Sango-Kaku”) – 4/28/2010

This is a well known and popular Japanese Maple.  It’s called Coral Bark for its bright red stems which are said to resemble a tower of red sea coral.  The stems are brightest in Spring when it first starts to grow.  This photo shows the tree a couple of weeks after it was planted.  It kind of stuns me how small it was 10 years ago!  I made a point to get a tree that had a tight vase shape to it.  I wanted it to fit here at the intersection of the path from the driveway that goes up into the house on one side, and the path that goes into the front garden on the other.

10/29/2010

Here it is in October with the beginning of fall color on it.  This year it had a lot of red  in it, but it changes each year and other years it has more gold in it than red, as you’ll see as we go along here.  No matter the color, it’s always beautiful.

2/16/2011

You can clearly see the bright red stems in this photo.  You can also see how much it’s grown in just one year – it grows fast!    It’s a perfect fit for its space and is well away from the paths, as intended.

11/18/2011

It grew even more its first year in the ground.  The color this year is stunning, tho most of the leaves have fallen by now.

8/23/2012

I didn’t have a Spring photo for this year so you’re seeing 2 years of growth here. It’s still narrow but getting very full.

10/25/2012

The fall color here is more orange than red, which is more what we’ve seen over time.  You can still see the red stems.

5/7/2013

It’s getting really full now and starting to look like a “real tree”, which for me means when it gets taller than my head!  I’m only 5’4″ tall so I guess that’s really not a very high bar to meet…

10/31/2013

I guess you can tell this was taken on Hallowe’en.  It’s gotten significantly taller this year with vibrant orange color.

5/8/2014

I love how it droops down in this photo.  The first full flush of Spring growth covers it here and it’s heavy.

11/1/2014

The new growth at the top always turns color more slowly than the older growth.  It’ll get there but it takes awhile.

5/6/2015

It’s still growing in a tight vase shape, with a little help from my lopers.  I don’t prune it much, just enough to keep it that way.

10/30/2015

Another Hallowe’en photo.  We don’t decorate the house for trick or treaters till Hallowe’en day but you can see the corn stalks we line the driveway with behind the tree on the lawn. The kids love how we do it and we have fun too!

3/25/2016

You can really see the red stems on this one.  The leaves are just starting to appear on the branches.  It’s still a tight shape.

10/23/2016

This is the typical color it seems to turn most years, tho sometimes it has more red in it, which I personally prefer.  Not that I don’t love the colors here.  It’s getting much wider at the top but is still narrow where it needs to be out of the way.

2/6/2017

It doesn’t snow every year here in Seattle so I like to take photos when it does.  The snow really makes the red stems shine.

10/23/2017

There’s a tinge of red on the upper leaves this year, extending down somewhat to the lower parts.  This color makes me happy.  The tree is getting both taller and wider here but still stays out of the paths.  Only takes bit of pruning to do this.

4/22/2018

It’s so lovely when the leaves first start to grow.  I said it looked like a “real tree” earlier.  It’s so much more so now!

10/17/2018

Here the fall color is trending more towards a deep yellow rather than much red.  Again you can see the top colors up later.

2/9/2019

I took this after a huge snowfall last February that destroyed the big coniferous shrub behind the maple.  People called it the “Snowpocalypse”.  We almost never get this much snow.  I love to look at it but we had a lot of breakage of limbs.  Very sad.

10/24/2019

I seem to have a lot of photos taken in October here.  You can see how the stems darken to a light brown as they age. If you look closely you can still see some vestiges of red here and there.  In the back is a gorgeous Waterfall dissected maple.

6/6/2020

We’re finally up to this year.   This was just a few ago, in June, and it’s got quite a lot of new growth on it.  But as you’ll see in the next photo it still has a ways to go.  I don’t know if you’ve been watching the pine to the right here.  It’s gotten a whole lot bigger too.  I guess everything has…

9/9/2020

I took this one a couple of hours ago, just before I started this post.  Like I said you can see that it’s grown since the last photo I took in June.  It Really looks like a “real tree” now.  It’s not only taller than I am – it’s way taller than the roof!  I had to prune off one branch that was drooping down over the roof when it rained.  I try to keep things off the roof, but really we only have 2 or 3 trees that I have to worry about that with.  Most of the large trees are far away from the house and garage.

I’ve been so pleased with how fast and strong this tree has grown.  It’s wonderful to be able to walk under it when you go into the house.  And tho you can’t really see it much here I also trained the maple to merge with the Green Pine on the right to form an arch over the path as you drop down onto the lawn and into the garden.  I love tree arches and have created a few more here and there throughout the garden.  I’ve even made them with large shrubs.  They make it feel like you’re entering a different world and help to create a feeling of enclosure as you walk under them.  Maybe I’ll do a post on them sometime.

I hope I’ve given you a good look at how this special tree has grown over time.  I tried to get photos that showed it at different times of the year, including early Spring when the tree is bare and in fall when it’s in full color.  There are also a few that show it in summer when it’s green and growing.  I think it’s awesome all year long.

This tree was introduced in Ireland in 1920 and is now widely planted over much of the world.  Eventually it will grow to 30′ or 40′ tall and 20′-30′ wide.  I’m glad we have it here in our garden and that it’s taken its place in such a short time.

I hope you have some trees in your garden that you love as much as I love this one!!

Steve

Bee Balm

Jacob Kline Bee Balm/Monarda didyma “Jacob Kline”

I originally planted this up next to the fence behind it here, with the hope that it would grow up and out thru the trees and look cool.  It didn’t do so well there and it seemed to die back, but somehow it traveled out underground about 4′ to its present location.  Here it gets more sun and can grow much taller. It’s handy to have the Peve Minaret Dwarf Swamp Cypress to grow up into to support its long stems.

As its name implies bees love this critter.  So do the hummers.  It’s not at all uncommon to see it buzzing with both. It’s easy to grow and is one of my favorite flowers. I love how the petals burst forth at the ends of the stems. They look almost like little bright red fireworks. It really is quite striking from across the yard or from the deck.  It’s a perennial so it dies back each year and then grows this big in one season. It’s a wonderful plant if you want to draw pollinators to your garden.

Plant for the Bees – they need all the help they can get!

Steve

Japanese Maples in Spring

Waterfall (Acer palmatum dissectum “Waterfall”

They say you should never prune these dissectum maples to fit a space by cutting back the edges.  But since I planted it in the wrong spot and didn’t give it room to grow so I have to trim it every year.  It’s a tricky dance but so far I think I’ve done a pretty good job of it.  We’ll see how it looks as time goes on.  It turns a brilliant shade of orange-red in the fall.

Shirazz (Acer palmatum “Shirazz”)

This one is a bit wonky looking now.  It froze back very badly a couple of years ago and only the base of the trunk stayed alive.  I was heartbroken, so I talked to the nursery and they said they’d never heard of a Japanese maple freezing around here.  Of course it happened to me!   It’s got lovely variegated foliage and turns a wonderful bright red in the fall.

Bloodgood (Acer palmatum “Bloodgood”)

This is an old variety.  It’s been around for a hundred or more years.  It was found in an old churchyard on the east coast.  It has these wonderful dark red leaves all year and turns an even darker flush of deep reddish-purple in the fall.  Truly lovely.

Red Pygmy (Acer palmatum “Red Pygmy”)

This is a dwarf variety that is only supposed to get 10 feet tall, which it is already after 10 years or so.  It has dark red leaves when it first leafs out but it turns to a greenish red over the summer, before changing to a fiery orange in the fall.

Red Dragon (Acer palmatum dissectum “Red Dragon”)

Another dissectum that has deeply cut leaves and is always this incredible deep red.  In the fall it turns an even darker shade of red and is very showy.  It may get too big for the deck and I don’t know what I’ll do then.  I’m sure something will work out.

Lion’s Head (Acer palmatum “Shishigashira”)

This is an old cultivar that has deeply crinkled leaves.  In the fall it blazes with bright orange-red color.  It’s a late one that opens late and stays in leaf late, well beyond the others.  It’s a treat to have it here!

Twomblys’ Red Sentinel (Acer palmatum “Twombly’s Red Sentinel”)

This is our latest acquisition.  We only had a space for it recently when an old arborvitae here was crushed by the February snow and we had to take it out.  This is a unique one in that it’s the only Japanese maple that is columnar in its growth habit. It only gets 10 feet wide at most.  It will stay this color all year and in fall will turn dark red.  It’s a sport off an old Bloodgood.

Roseo Marginatum (Acer palmatum “Kagiri Nishiki”)

This is the first Japanese Maple I ever bought, back in the early 70’s, for my parent’s yard.  It’s got unique leaves that are all different and have a sickle shape to them, with creamy white and pink variegation to the margins with green on the inside.  Because it’s on the north side of the garage the inner leaves are shaded and are often yellow or orange as you can see here.  It’ll turn a lovely orange fall color.

Floating Cloud (Acer palmatum “Ukigumo”)

This is named for its beautiful “floating cloud” effect when it’s in leaf like this.  It has creamy white leaves with pink margins. It turns a deep orange-red in the fall.  It really does look like it’s floating in the garden here.  I love the planes of the foliage.

Coral Bark (Acer palmatum “Sango Kaku”)

This one is known by the new red stems you can see when the limbs are young.  They’re called Coral Bark because they resemble the towers of coral rising from the sea.  You can’t see the red stems now because there are too many leaves, but they’re there.  You can see them when you look up into the tree.  It’s the largest one we have, getting to 25 or 30 feet tall and wide.  It’s a great feel to walk under it to the door.

These are all the Japanese maples we’ve got here in our little garden sanctuary.  I’d love to have more but we’re out of room and are so happy to have such a nice variety in the ones we have.  They’re all different in some ways so we get a large tapestry of colors and shapes and sizes.  A couple of them get big but most are dwarfs and will stay small forever, or at least sort of small.  Is 15 feet small to you?   To a tree it is.  I like them when they get taller than I am.  Then they feel like a real tree to me.  They all seem to grow very fast and none of these is older than about 9 or 10 years, at least in our garden.  Who knows how old they were when we planted them.   This is why the normal 10 year sizes they usually say on the labels are always off and much smaller than reality.  You really have to just let them grow to see how big they’ll eventually get.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of the Japanese Maples we have here.  A Northwest garden would be incomplete without at least a couple of them as well as the ubiquitous rhododendrons.  We have a lot of them too.  Add in the ferns and conifers and you have most of our garden.  It’s a unique collection of over 200 individual specimens, each different in some way from all the others.  I’ve got botanical labels on all the plants so you can see their common names, botanical names, families and origins.  They help me remember them all… 😉

Thanks for visiting our maple collection!

Steve

“Red Pygmy” Japanese Maple

“Red Pygmy” Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum “Red Pygmy”)

I planted this tree as a small sapling no more than 3 feet tall in December of 2009.  I’ve been amazed at its continued good growth in its 9 growing seasons since then.  These days it puts on over a foot of growth all over itself each year, and it’s getting to be quite big for a “small” maple.  I think it likes the deep rich peaty soils we have here.  Its thin, lacy leaves open as a deep burgundy and gradually fade to this lighter shade of reddish green you see here.  In the fall it’s a blaze of bright yellow-orange you can see from across the yard.

If you look closely you may be able to see the winged samaras – the seeds it’s putting on now.  If I’m lucky I may have some little seedlings to grow next year!  It’s been given the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.  I have several other plants in the garden that have received this designation.  No big deal really, but it means authorities across the world, or at least in England, think it’s a cool plant.  So do I…  🙂

This is one of my real success stories here in the garden.  It’s just grown so well.  At one point it had lost a large portion of its bark on one side, for no apparent reason.  I was worried about it so I asked the nursery, but they had no idea what was wrong.  So I’ve just kept it clean and well watered and it’s been healing nicely ever since, tho there’s still a small area without bark.  It seems to be doing fine.  Projections are for this tree to grow 8 – 10′ x 6 – 8′ in 10 years, and it’s about 8′ tall and wide now so that seems about right.  I think it’ll get a bit bigger from now on…  Not bad for a little sapling!

Hope you’re having a great Summer!

Steve

Welcome to Our Home

I really did mean to publish this when I took it back in October.  But life was too busy then and I just never got around to it.   But it’s a nice image of the entrance to our house and I wanted to put it into the blog, so here it is, a bit late but still beautiful.

From the left the plants here are:  the Coral Bark Maple (Acer palmatum Sango-Kaku), turning its lovely golden fall colors here.  It’s only about 7 1/2 years old and has grown really fast.  I trained it to be narrow at the bottom so we could still walk past it to the steps and into the garden to its right.  It forms a nice arch to enter beneath.

Next to it is a cultivar of the Austrian Black Pine called an Oregon Green Pine.  It’s been here for 8 years and is expected to get twice its present size.  It has beautiful white candles on it in the spring.  It forms the other half of the arch to walk under to get into the garden.

The tree in the back is a Korean Butterfly Maple (Acer tschonoskii ssp. Koreanum).  It’s only been here for 3 1/2 years and has grown about 8 feet in that time.  It turns this beautiful reddish orange fall color and is the first tree to change color.  It’s also the first tree to leaf out in the spring and the first to lose it leaves in the fall as well.  Balance I guess.

Below it is a gray green Pfitzer Juniper (Juniperus chinensis “pfitzeriana”).  It’s one that Louie planted over 30 years ago.  It’d be huge now but I keep it cut back so we can walk the path and drive into the driveway.  Louie wants to dynamite it but I’ve got him to hold off so far with some selective pruning.  They do get large tho, and it’s going to be a constant chore as time goes on.

Above the juniper is a hedge of Pyramidal Arborvitae (Thuja occidentals “Pyrimadalis”).   Louie planted these over 30 years ago as well and they were only in gallon cans then.  They form a dense screen across the front of the garden so that it’s very private inside it all.  It’s a peaceful place to hang out in any time in the year.

The ones at the far right are a line of Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina domestica “Moyer’s Red”).   They’re interspersed with Oregon grape across the front of the garden and were some of the first plants I planted here in 2008.  The nandinas turn this amazing purple red in the fall and winter and you can see the colors from way down the block as you drive towards us. They have brilliant red berries on them in winter but they aren’t edible, even by the birds.  Go figure…

That’s the entrance to our home.  We hope to see you coming up the walk one of these days to visit.  You’ll be very welcome here.  Cheers!

Nandina

Nandina domestica, also known as Heavenly Bamboo, is a medium sized shrub that grows a bit like bamboo, thus the common name. But it’s actually in the same family as Barberry – the Berberidaceae. It can grow up to 8 feet tall, or more, with a spread of 4-6 feet given room. It grows in a fountain shape and the way you prune it is to lop off the tallest canes from the ground up and let the new ones take over, which they will do rapidly. This is a fast growing plant and this variety – “Moyer’s Red” – turns a lovely reddish shade in the winter.

The red berries follow the flowers you can see in the following pictures. In some you can even see a few berries. They are a common plant and in some areas are considered invasive, but not here in Seattle where we are. This is one of the few plants we have more than one of. Mostly I try not to repeat myself, but a line of them was too attractive to miss, so we did that as you’ll  see below. All the plants you’ll see are almost 8 years old, and are some of the first plants I planted when I moved in with Louie in 2009.

This is a shot of the front of the yard, as seen from the street. This is the first view people have of our garden. As you can see the Thuja pyramidalis behind the Nandina are about 16 feet tall and make a nice backdrop for them. In between them we planted Oregon Grape, also in the Barberry family. They have small purple berries on them now that are pretty good to eat, but are a bit sour so they’re best for jelly and such.  The Nandina berries are poisonous and even the birds tend to leave them alone.

This one is right by our front porch. It’s at least 8 feet tall, and there is a legend that if the Heavenly Bamboo gets taller than the door jamb that it protects the home.  This one will do that pretty well I’d say. It has a lot of flowers on it now and a few berries left over from last season. It frames the entrance to the house and provides interest all year round with its various changes.

This last one is by the door of the garage and is well over the door jamb, so I guess the garage is well protected. I did a little bit of fancy pruning on it to air it out some and give the form a chance to show itself off. You can see a couple of little reddish new shoots coming up thru the neighboring foliage at the bottom. I’ll let them grow and in time they’ll replace the taller canes now growing. It never turns very red because it’s in a north facing area and just doesn’t get much sun at all.  The ones in front do much better at changing color because they get so much more sun.

I’ve known Nandina for some 45 years of gardening and have planted so many of them in landscapes I really couldn’t begin to tell you how many of them I’ve put in the ground. They used them a lot where I grew up in central California and are in fact pretty overused there in places. I almost grew to dislike them when I worked there doing landscapes, but I’ve overcome my prejudices as I’ve gotten older and away from that business end of things. Now I just plant what I like and am happy with them.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of these plants in various shapes. They’re nice plants for narrow spaces or for screening, and to provide that Asian flair for the garden. They aren’t hard to find and  there are many varieties, from small mounding shrublets to this tall natural form I’ve shown you. Some turn blazing red in winter, some don’t. All in all it’s a very versatile plant for many gardens.

Happy Growing!

Steve

Shades of Red

Red Yarrow “Paprika”

Red Dragon Japanese Maple

Red Pygmy Japanese Maple

Bloodgood Japanese Maple

Weeping Purple Beech

Red Fox Katsura

Physocarpus “Seward”

Blue Peter Rhodie

French Lavender

Garden Sage

Mountain Fire Pieris

Columbine

Heuchera “Coral Bells”

Anna Rose Whitney Rhodie

Crimson Pygmy Barberry

Unknown Azalea

Ward’s Ruby Azalea

Bow Bells Rhodie

Ken Janeck Rhodie

Tulips

Elephant Ears

Thrift

Lawrence Crocker Daphne

Native Bleeding Heart

Blue Diamond Rhodie

King Edward VIII Currant

Racemosum Rhodie

Winter Daphne

Ural False Spirea

Goshiki Kotohime Japanese Maple

Kramer’s Rote Heath

Persian Cyclamen and Tradescantia

Nandina “Moyer’s Red”

 

 

And Pink, and Purple, and some in between colors too, but they all fit in the spectrum of Red. I’m amazed by all the plants I have that have red tones to them. It’s obviously a pretty popular color. I’ve tried to add them to the garden because they add so much interest and I love the varied hues they represent. Some of them are in the leaf and others are in the blooms, but all are in the reddish range and provide some intense color to the garden at most any time of the year. These pictures cover the last few months since things started to bloom and leaf out well, tho they’re not in any particular chronological order.

First up is a Yarrow that just keeps getting better each year. It’s called Paprika and has intense red blooms with yellow flecks in the centers. Then are 3 different red Japanese maples that are even named red, like the Red Dragon and Red Pygmy, and the Bloodgood is considered the most excellent red cultivar of Japanese maples you can find. It’s been in circulation since the 1800’s sometime as I recall.

The weeping beech I planted as a memorial for my brother and it has his ashes underneath it. It’ll get taller eventually but since I stopped staking it up it’s stopped getting taller for now. I’m hoping it’ll mound up on itself as time goes on but it may just get wider I’m not sure. The Red Fox Katsura is hard to see I know but it has deep purple blue green leaves that are even more red at first growth. It hasn’t grown this year at all which concerns me but patience is called for here and I’m trying my best to just allow it to grow on its own pace. It’ll be a lovely tree in time.

The Physocarpus, or Ninebark as they’re called, is a small shrub with deep maroon leaves and light pink flowers that didn’t bloom much this year but it grew well. While the Blue Peter Rhodie has been here for years and always puts on a fine display of flowers. The lavender and the sage are in the Herb bed and I’ve gotten a lot of good food from this bed. I harvested my savory and oregano awhile ago while it was in fresh growth and some rosemary too. I’ll have a good stash for cooking this year.

The Mountain Fire Pieris, or Lily of the Valley shrub, has such fine red tones when it first leafs out that turn to a light mahogany and then to  green as time goes on. Buds will set on it from this fall and it’ll bloom in winter with white blooms. I’m rooting for this one to get bigger so it screens us from the neighbors on the deck. It takes time tho so I have to be patient again. It’s required when you a start a garden mostly from scratch and use smaller plants like we did. It takes time and waiting is hard for me but I do it because what else can one do?

I know the Columbine I showed is more blue than red but it’s so beautiful I had to show it. It’s a self sown seedling that just came up in a bed of them I let happen. I love them so much I just let them grow since they aren’t in the way at all. The Heuchera is in the front yard and adds some nice color to that area there with its delicate blossoms and fine maroon leaves. The Anna Rose Whitney Rhodie is in the back of the whole garden and will be a foundation of the corner of the yard as it gets bigger which is doing well now.

The Barberry is a small shrub that has to compete with the Spruce next to it on one side and the Giant Sequoia on the other. It seems  to be holding its own tho so I’m not worried. A little bit of pruning on the spruce and it looks fine. The next azalea is one Louie planted years ago so I don’t know its name but it’s sure lovely isn’t it? Bright and lush it always makes me smile. So does the Ward’s Ruby, one of my favorite azaleas. It’s a kurume so it doesn’t get too big but has loads of blooms when it does so. The Bow Bells and Ken Janeck Rhodies both come on light pink and then one changes to deep pink and the other to white as they age. Both are lovely. The Ken Janeck is a Yak rhodie, a small form with huge leaves that I love. Very cool.

Clearly the Tulips have been here for awhile and it’s amazing that they still come up thru the soil we put there and the plants grow thru them now. They add some bright color to the winter garden when they bloom. The Elephant Ears or Saxifrage, are in the front of the whole garden and provide a soft haven of their flowers with their lush foliage. I love the deep color they have.

The Thrift, the Daphne and the Bleeding Heart are all in the same area and are quite wonderful when they all bloom together. The Daphne is so fragrant too, it’s possible to smell it standing up next to it but if you really want to smell it you have to get down on your knees. It’s wonderful. The Blue Diamond Rhodie has grown a lot this year but only bloomed a bit. It’s so healthy tho I’m happy with it. The currant is blooming well in this picture but hasn’t grown much yet this year, as have so many plants. It seems to be the year of patience for me this year as I’ve said before. Ah well, as long as they keep growing I have faith that they’ll do well in time.

The Racemosum Rhodie is a species Rhodie that has wonderful light pink blooms at an early stage in the season. They come when you’re just tired of winter and need a bit of color in the garden. They provide some wonderful  blooms. The Winter Daphne has wonderfully fragrant flowers in pink and the Ural False Spirea has such cool pinkish tips to its growth I’ve included both which live next to each other in the front yard. You can smell the daphne all over he yard when it blooms.

The Goshiki Kotohime maple means “variegated old harp” in Japanese. It supposedly reminds one of the Koto, a stringed instrument that is endemic to Japan. A lovely plant and a wonderful instrument. This is the new growth that is so very bright and then fades to green as the year progresses. Very lovely. The Heath  is in the Heather garden and adds some blossoms in winter when the heathers are dormant.

The next shot it is of under the starting bed in the greenhouse and has a Persian cyclamen and a Tradescantia which both are doing well this year. They get a bit of water from the bed but we still give them extra to keep them going well. Last is a Moyers Red Nandina in full color with both leaves and berries red as can be. It’s a nice one to finish off this tour of red shades I think.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of Red. I’ve done blue before but never red and it seemed like it was time to do so. With all the maples in particular and the other plants now in such fine colors I just had to share them. They brighten up the garden like nothing else and are so varied as you can see that they provide much interest even beside the color. The forms and the textures too add dimensions to the whole interplay of color and style in this garden as they do in so many others.

Red Rules!

Steve