Color won't stop

For me nothing says autumn like falling tree leaves, and the often vibrant colors they take on before dropping.

In the deciduous tree world, the Japanese maples must be pretty close to the top of the list for fall color.

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I have several small Japanese maples in pots, and one in the ground. Being small doesn't mean they have small impact though -- for a few days each fall they're intense and vibrant. Even though it was raining when I took these photos I didn't have any choice, as the colors typically only last for a day or so before the leaves fall, or the color dulls.

What was labeled as 'Fireglow' is what I have in the ground:

I also have 'Tamukeyama' in a pot, shown in the above left image and the one below:

My potted 'Boskoop Glory' on the left, and my sole surviving 'Fireglow' seedling on the right:

Remember that I got a couple more Japanese maples on clearance at a nursery late this summer, but those both were in bad shape and went dormant early -- I won't know what their autumn color is like until next year.

Besides the wonderful color, the other thing that I like about Japanese maples in the fall is that they're small, which means very little raking of fallen leaves. I'm definitely thankful for that!

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