Acer colour

Photo from a couple of weeks ago, pinky red leaves on this Acer (Japanese Maple) shine out with brightness on a dull day. I saw this in a churchyard and just had to take a picture of it. The green coloured chlorophyll has been absorbed back into the main part of the plant and xanthophyll carotanoids and antoxcyanines remain (spellings might be wrong).

Some countries have more colour changes than in the UK. I guess our species tend towards yellows, oranges and browns as opposed to reds. I’d love to see a really spectacular autumn (fall).

Red

Beautiful tree I saw on a walk. I love red trees, but we don’t get many in this country.. I’m not sure what species this is. It does not look like an Acer which are the the ones that look like maple leaves? Are they called Japanese maples? Anyway, this was before the wind got up and blew them all away!

I would love to visit America to see the ‘fall’, every time I see photos of the East Coast at this time of year the colours of the forests are magnificent. I guess this is the last chance to photograph a red tree this year?

Acers

I took lots of photos of these trees at a garden centre in Wales. Small and perfectly formed, their colours seem to glow against the dull grey sky. A shaft of sunlight makes the colours explode. Glorious and wonderful.

A lot of the leaves are palmate, meaning hand shaped. The leaves are strongly divided into thinner and thinner strips of crimson red or deep yellow at this time of year. We have an acer in our garden but it always seems to have a white sheen to it. I think it is in the wrong place next to a bigger tree which is robbing it of moisture. I sometimes water it to try and help. It changes to a very dark deep red in autumn and its leaves are less indented, more maple like. With the sun shining through them this morning they look bronze or copper coloured.