Gallery of Autumn Trees
Autumn portraits of
Acer palmatum atropurpureum
The leaves of this Japanese maple are purple most of the year.
Then in autumn they turn a fiery red,
the color being at its height in November (2002).
A month before the fiery reds appear, as
shown here (October 2003), summer purples first fade to green.
The mothwing seeds, which have been ripening on the
branches spring & summer, suddenly turn a
gorgeous shade of pink before the leads turn red.
Another shot of October's lovely seed-colors. These will turn
brown in November & continue to cling
to the branches even after all the leaves have fallen,
blowing loose a few at a time throghout the winter
& early spring.
After a week-long hard rain late in November (2003),
all the leaves fell at once from the Atropurpuream,
forming a beautiful ground-carpet in the garden.
We don't remove fallen leaves from the garden,
but make sure they haven't fallen on anything short
that might get smothered, & move the leaves about
to serve as natural mulch for as much of the gardens
as possible. The leaves decay through winter & are a
rich black leafmold by spring, healthy for the gardens.
A year later, in the first week of November (2004),
this tree is once again approaching maximum red.
Here are the leaves a couple days later,
backlit by afternoon sunlight.
Viewed from the road or sidewalk, even though the
Atropureum is the last tree still with its autumn leaves,
our house behind the tree is still
entirely obscured by the tree's red robe.
One year later, November 2005, 'Atropurpureum' is again
at the height of its color. The white picket fence has in
the meantime been removed & replaced with a small
raised ledge along which autumn & winter cyclamens are numerous.
Read more about this tree on the main
Acer palmatum atropurpureum page.
Continue to the Next Page of the Autumn Trees Gallery.