Winter Japanese Maple Gardening Checklist: One whole year!

The Japanese Maple Gardening year: One whole year. Reflections & Practical advice from 2023 on how to grow better trees. I discuss what to check during the year and how to learn from last year to better plan for 2024

Ideal for beginners or more experienced Japanese Maple growers, in these videos I will show what practical steps I take to keep my Acer trees healthy during a year of gardening!

I hope you will follow me in my adventures with these wonderful trees

This video will help you grow better trees and for those with more experience, who want to improve the autumn colour, health and general quality of their Maples. Colour can also be improved all year by giving trees the right amount of sun.

This video is about:
Fall colors, Japanese acer, Japanese acer care, Japanese acer in pots, Japanese acer leaves curling, Japanese acer maple tree, Japanese acer scorched leaves, Japanese acer tree, Japanese acer uk, Japanese maple, Japanese maples care, Japanese maples in containers, Japanese maples in pots, Japanese maples varieties, Maples, acer, autumn, fall colors, fall foliage, garden, garden answer, garden tour, gardening, maple, shrubs, Japanese maple care, autumn ambience

Hi Maple fans and in this video I’ll be sharing my learnings from 2023 with lots of hints and tips that may help for next year please note that these months are based on UK timings but of course can easily be adapted to anywhere else in

The world so last January took a trip to batsford arum here in the UK um they’ve got a really nice ex trees including this carb Maple and indeed a paper B maple so learning for me there was really that these trees can be attractive in the winter they really can

Um you need to pick and choose a little bit perhaps but it’s always nice to have some in your collection and here’s a lovely lovely shishi Kashira which is absolutely crazy um quite an old tree goes all over the place looks magnificent really but uh nonetheless a

Really really nice place to visit get some exercise get out and about and collect your thoughts maybe ready for next year so moving on from there in February you took a trip down to Dorset in the UK um this is by Paul um lovely location and again surprisingly lesson here

Really that you know the nursery is still open cly the one that I visit called bom is in in Dorset are still open they there are still plants that little um tree there is one I actually bought and it still means you can have a look it’s not quite so spectacular in

The summer months but really good to sort of take a phone with you and do a bit of research and kind of understand what these trees will look like in in the spring and the summer I suppose really because just looking at some sticks almost isn’t the best way of

Making that decision and just going onto um Kingston Lacy here which is a lovely National Trust property here in the UK but again it’s not in full swing really but nice to see the structure of the trees still had a really good day out little break little holiday really and

Of course these places are nearly empty as well really so you can get around really early and perhaps it focuses on this particular Japanese garden down there the the sort of structure of it and the little out building there it all adds to sort of the uh the experience

Really so despite finding some lovely Cher Brom little be there um March obviously is you know starts getting excited for Maple lovers really um obviously the daffodil sort of precede the trees sort of leafing out but always good to see um and visit some nice locations with that um went up to tattan

Park in sort of Manchester way the sort of more north of the of England in the UK and spotted this Garden so didn’t get back there that year but again still nice to visit um these can be quite Mossy quite interesting and it’s it’s

Good I think still to go out and I’m I’m glad I went for a nice day out really and also it’s a good time to get around and spot some potential places to visit later on in the season if you want to see some fully grown trees and then quickly heading into

April uh this is where things get a little bit more interesting you can see um my learning there was to sort of like cut off some of the winter dieback it’s pretty clear at this stage what there is and because the trees haven’t leaved out

Yet um seemed like a really good idea to make those little amendments really leaving sort of a few millimeters above where I cut I suppose just to make sure we don’t get more dieback still further but at this stage it’s not really going to generate any more dieb back the the

Winter frost are kind of over to be honest so a good time to trim away um before the the plants Leaf out and sort of can seal what what work needs to be done to be honest so another little lesson there this is the month that I um had delivered and installed that

Fountain and had my on it for quite a while really but while we’re not sort of quite so interested in the plants and haven’t many of them haven’t quite Leed out yet it may be good times to worry about ornaments and the kind of structural nature of the garden as well

Um because it all adds the kind of little little bit of Japanese theme I suppose and back down here at Compton Acres again in ping Dorset in the UK uh lovely to sort of visit Garden uh centers or proper nurseries which I tend to go to um they’re starting to Leaf out

It’s quite kind of getting exciting really you have a better chance of seeing what’s what and then moving on of course to to feeding so we’re still in kind of early April seems sort of pretty suitable to sh judging on the trees and just as they start to Leaf out I think

That’s a great time to feed to be honest with you so a lesson there just to hold fire and give them a sort of feed that’s going to endure and last over the next 6 months so is a slow release specific Acer feed not just some sort of generic

Compost because there’s far too much nitrogen in some of the ones you buy so just uh just a taking the bark off there giving a Sprinkle of some feed and that’s definitely sustained the trees all through the growing season but being in pots if you don’t do that they they

Will certainly suffer eventually and and run out steam a little bit so uh a little bit of work per tree but nonetheless well worthwhile so as I mentioned in some of my previous videos the wind is actually a really good time to get bargain trees that may be end of

Season but now we’re sort of moving through April um and the trees actually Leaf out you can much more clearly see what you’re going to get in that sense they tend to be a very even height at this point because they’re kind of all grown on to roughly the same degree

Whereas the end of the season you can see actually what the growth rate is going to be like because they progressed at different rates but nonetheless lovely to go um lovely placing M Matlock that I visit pacor nurseries and again a good time to to to make a selection the

Choice at this time of year again of quick learning is immense um because it’s the start of the season if you go it later on you know they’ll still have plenty in a place like this but they may have sold out some varieties some cultiv ours so we’re getting a really good time

To go and have a mooch Round And if you don’t buy everything on that visit well it’s tempting I know but a good chance to make some plans see the growth habits have a chat with the owners um always good to take advice as well that’s a

Great learning at this time of year because they’ll know they’ll be able to help if you go to a generic Garden Center then unfortunately they tend to be sort of sales assistants not sort of maple fans really so having some advice can be really really invaluable it’s

Also very worthwhile seeing them at this stage because you can see all the different spring colors so the more you get to know your Maples the more you know how they’re going to behave over the full year and ideally you know looking on your phone looking up on the

Internet to see autumn colors Etc to mix a match but in the spring it’s an absolutely spectacular time of year for Japanese these Maples so quite a good time to get out there have a look um you know by varieties we could all land it

With sort of the same kind of uh red leaf maples they’re all lovely but why not mix and match it great time to spot ones as well that may be in short supply sometimes so this is Mak atusa um though interestingly because this is a small grower he’s much more

Able to customize what he grows and what he grafts to demand and certainly because this well publicized in America and things like that um they are much more available now so there’s a little beauty there um this tree is probably four five years old so again you know

May be a small tree if it cost more money but that’s cuz it’s a slow grower and that’s definitely to be expected really but if you wanted somebody wanted a lot of money for a a blood good tree which grows like B Bilo or a A seru or

Something that wouldn’t be very sensible really so back to my own garden in May everything’s in sort of full flow really really is a last and and good time to check your vations now ideally as I said in a previous video I would move plants at the end of last season while I

Remember what what I did wrong you know which ones got burnt could have move them to a better more shady location but nonetheless it’s great to go and move your plants get out and about to these lovely places enjoy the aelas as well um because they’re they’re Japanese they’re

All part of that Japanese garden experience really so the spring is absolutely wonderful um a lot of people think of Japanese maples in terms of looking great for their Autumn col colors and that’s absolutely true of course it is but in the string there absolutely gorgeous and more consistent

Probably uh cuz weather conditions tend to be very more in the autumn and winter really so here just reflecting on and learnings again is where I put this particular gate um onto my house the difference that’s made is absolutely profound and and again that video of how

I did this is probably not that appealing to people in some respects but for me personally and I think one should really consider that cutting the wind down blowing through the alleyway which was like a gale it really was has entirely freed up the Border behind for more plants and they’ve absolutely done

So well so this time of year I would say it’s a really good time to kind of sort things out get out there in the garden while it’s a bit warmer do those structural changes do some moves um organize things correctly because at the

End of the day if you set things up and you know change the environment to for these trees and make it more hospitable for them then that can work really well um also checking up on the bamboo there that I planted which is starting to regrow you can see there on the right

Hand side and that in a couple of three four years will really really sort of make a nice screening hedge as well and just improve things no end to be honest with you so you know many times I said before my learning this year has been definitely as always put the trees where

They want to be but in some senses you can actually modify the environment which they live in and they’ll do very very well great again this time of year to go out about everything’s in leaf everything’s looking really good some trees sort of fade a bit or get a bit

More generic later on in the year but particularly the caral items like a beautiful pink color um the garet on the left hand side is in full flow really and was was a busy month for me really so managed to move the water barrels behind the wall L down the alley freeze

Up more space in the garden they’re not very nice to look at really um everything’s channeled through a drain pipe around the corner here so just notched that out and then put that into a you know a drain redirector thing to sort of get the water which is rainwater

Again another learning really what if there free Waters there why not use it ironically it’s been so wet this summer in the UK that uh I haven’t really watered it that much and here we are another learning from this year if you if it’s taking absolutely ages to to

Water your plants I was a bit cheeky really I bought this sort of pump mechanism um runs on sort of batteries but you can get main ones as well and the water flow therefore is is really very good indeed always always I prefer to use rain water and T water there’s no

Chlorine in it I don’t like the taste of it when I drink it and the plants don’t do don’t either in my estimation so s of fresh free rain water is always better in my opinion so here we are into June and this is where where I think the

Preparation that people do early on in the year repays dividends um because this Asia ASA S Swan and moonrise um really likes it in this position whereas the Jordan tends to burn more easily so a similar looking tree but I know this does really well here so again because I

Move that kind of last year and found a good spot for it then that works very well indeed whereas perhaps the yukumo behind again left there from last year because it liked that position so I didn’t move it um very pale Le really quite a beautiful tree looks looks

Really good and again what I’ve also discovered this year as well is that if you’re going to plant things in the ground have a really good think about it first because I planted a couple of other trees in that border and frankly they died he just doesn’t like it but a

More established tree has done really really well I think this year as well is where I definitely reflected on pot size the very wet March we had um was very different to the previous March where you could put a tree in as big a pot as you like and it did magnificently well

Because it just dried up too quickly almost the sun was amazing but this year caused some problems so these trees in the right siiz pots have done much much better and this year that really SP prompted a investigation almost into what was causing a problem with my

Plants and uh hence there a video about you know what can go wrong also learning to is sure about uh protecting plants from high winds there some some serious winds this month as well so you know putting bricks around it putting stakes in the ground to Anchor them stuff like

That really or even in case of nurseries they kind of use wooden wooden beams and things like that they sort of put it in a wooden beam array to kind of keep things steady whatever works to be honest interesting too about this time of year a big lesson from 2023 really

That people seem really interested in what their trees will become so I’ve done a series of videos and you can always go back through my the library of you know information I’ve got really to have a look but this is a sangu Caro which is the same tree as we saw earlier

I just think it’s really interesting to see if you put things out and leave them for decades kind of where they’ll land up and what they’ll be but um yeah again visiting our bitum Le Lear to enjoy that really and seeing ultimately what can happen so you may remember the little

Hagar tree that I bought uh from Dorset well I found an actual full-size version of it so again I’ve really enjoyed this year going out and hunting for trees that that I already own or or just randomly finding them really and it’s just lovely to see what potential they

Have in the long run and again the yugumo that I showed you earlier there’s there’s one out and about and good to reflect to be honest with you I think mine looks far better than this this is unprotected it’s out in quite an exposed position so it just reinforces the idea

That I’m doing the right thing really and then as this summer was very overcast and and wet really and particularly the spring but across the whole summer really prompted my thoughts again to look at um pot sizing and compost that I use and I’ve absolutely come to conclusion that you you can’t

Have a one siiz fits all scenario to be honest on balance I think I’ll still stick to my poting mix of 50% erasus compost and 50% uh sort of mature plant compost that does work really well but only in the right size pot so I had a lot of

Practice this year and experimentation using different Siz pots and if you overt them the roots get too damp this definitely causes a problem but let’s say I used a load of pine bark and you know super drainage um type compost the trouble is they would dry out that

Quickly on a sort of hot season this could be a real issue and and cause a real problem so a lot of experimentation this year with um seedlings that I’d been given which is actually a really good idea so ceilings are lovely actually but because I was given the

Handful for free of charge then it was great to do a little bit of an experimentation with plants I hadn’t necessarily uh paid for which is which is all good so moving through and on to August now um whizzing through the air at a quite a pace really and you know

Everything’s in sort of fine FAL in full flow really just a great time to get out there and and look at the trees how how they doing are they getting burnt if they are let’s take some action and and interestingly as well that uh the tree

In the top left hand there the Weeping one is has some lovely colors already and so does some of the other trees um but what we’ll see is that some of those if they have a bit of an overdose of sun uh have actually suffered for it later

On in the year a little bit so it’s great to see some lovely colors during the summer months but perhaps that’s the detriment of really really good fall colors um and I think we’ll see later in the video that the trees that are actually more shade all year have

Actually done better um particularly the S Kazuki type trees and that sort of thing than some of the others so something I also learned this year and it’s worked really well is by all means at this point in time um put something in a pot but what I’ve done here really

Is made sure that the pot is very very similar to the size of the tree that I’m fitting in it because I don’t really want to load this up with compost and a load of nitrogen and that’s going to cause a sort of massive growth which is

Just going to die back in the winter really but that that tree’s been fine so you know it is at this point I think quite successful to uh to repot them and another bit of fun from 2023 that uh one of the uh my viewers and subscribers had actually been in touch

To say that he’d found this Kanani in matot where I to packles Farm Nursery as you can see there and and off I went and uh managed to secure one really so this is a tree I’d seen a couple years earlier at westernberg and was really

Really happy to to be able to find that and just going to um while I was there as well just re looking around at the still magnificent collection of trees um maay atusa there some shur swum on the right just again a lovely time to sort of go and see what

Your trees will look like in the Sumer months where let’s face it you know Autumn’s fantastic Spring’s fantastic but the summer month is where they’re going to stay uh for most of their their life really another learning really that at this stage of the game the trees have

Been growing for you know most of a season so in a sense they’re growing in value because you’re getting more tree for your money um but yeah you can sort of start to see the shape and the form of them better and have a better understanding of where they’re heading

Really and byom means you can buy really tiny trees and absolutely fine um I often do but it’s it’s just more difficult to see where they’re going to land up I suppose and here’s a trumpen Burg I’d had for a year or two and never really understood why it it isn’t really

Going places it just seems to be the same size every year honestly it seems to not move at all but again understanding this year about you know pot sizing and not not over potting and taking that out and replacing it that’s made a a substantial difference really

And it was also at this time of year that I discovered um a new place to go Bluebell nurseries in Ashby dzou in the sort of millons of the UK so get it’s always good to go out and look for new places to go and find um more trees

Because I might see a tree that I already have like this Jordan and just reflect on how mine’s doing and to make learn some lessons there but in other ways I might find trees that I don’t own and I don’t write them down necessarily and make a note of them but I’ve

Certainly learned this year that if you get out and the about and make some good observations and somewhere in the back of your mind something sticks and a be like the Kanani really it was two or three years later that I actually found the tree that I was looking

For and yeah later on in the month you can see here while from a distance this tree looks you know 100% okay it’s just starting to suffer a bit really uh well not suffer but there there is a bit of burning and branding Le it’s going a bit

Too far um and just like this little fell here really sort of um similar similar scenario nothing too deadly nothing too too much too problematic but this is the time to reflect and maybe as I did move that tree to a bit more shade really just to give it a

Helping hand whereas on the other hand something like this okushima which I don’t know much about should have done a bit more research haven’t but in sort of pretty full light it just seems to thrive and do really really well so I’m always going out and I’ve just learned

To kind of keep looking keep keep observing really and uh make changes you know things aren’t happy where they are well that’s absolutely fine so on this like Yukon here there’s some s yellowing at the tips of the leaves and things aren’t looking quite right really so by

Observing that I was able to take some corrective action and indeed I took the opportunity to remove it from its pot there if remember I potted that earlier on in the air you can still see the actual shape of the original pot it just hasn’t really grown into the

Compost um around the tree because the roots are getting rotten it’s it was it was too wet it’s it’s just not doing very well really so I decided that point point to sort of pot it down put it into a smaller pot and taking some great advice from some of the maple Growers

That I speak to decided to put that into a pot that’s sort of barely big enough to contain the root ball to be honest with you um because that’s the best way of kind of preserving things and you say looking at the side there there’s there’s not like nice um sort of light

Colored nice roots on it it’s sort of more Brown the roots are falling apart it’s it’s not done so well really and just continuing that theme big lesson from this year is you know pot size is absolutely critical um particularly if it’s a damp season to be honest with you

And every season’s different that’s another massive massive learning this year was nothing like the year before which was an absolute scorcher of a summer so you’ve got to kind of cut your cloth both ways and take the middle ground to some degree and adapt things but as you can see there putting things

In the right size pots great if it’s too small it could dry out like the one there so don’t underpot it because that runs the risk you know everything being equal if I if I miss watering it once then that could be a major problem and then really lots more learnings into the

Month of September um this tree has this rayus it’s just look so beautiful it’s done amazingly well and this is one I won’t be moving because it just looks great where it is really um with Morning Sun and afternoon shade but just reflecting um that this year again this

Wendy shows absolutely no sign of changing color really the this season was very very late indeed the asakuki on the right in other years might start to do something quite spectacular by now but there’s not much sign of anything happening in particular really so again it was a very sort of

Dull kind of wet summer but that season went on very very late into the year so you know the actual cut off as far as the trees’s concerned between Summer and Autumn can vary by many many weeks so great big learning for this year really

Um both in terms of like enjoying my own trees but planning visits out there’s no point booking a week off in the second week in October to go and see the maples in a lovely place that you know unfortunately for the particular year that you’re in that may be either too

Early or too late so having a bit of flexibility flexibility really helps so a big learning for me this year is um you know don’t be a cultivar snob if there is such a thing um these little seedlings are really interesting um they were free you know absolutely why not really

But particularly in the early days of of growing Maples even though they’re seedlings and they’re pretty tough if you put them in the wrong conditions they they’re going to do badly so I’ve got all of those and we’ll see how they progress over next year and Beyond

Really so if you do enjoy these videos I hope that that that works well for you so we can keep referring back to some of my trees and see how they progress um indeed so you’ll sort of see progress um how your own will progress in future

Months really so this is ACA Sharon and again looks pretty much like it’s done all year at this point you know really quite surprising because you’d expect some sort of color change but also it’s it’s interesting that the maples that that had exposure to Sun during the year

Were much more advanced um this one down the side of the house which is my orange dream has put an immense amount of late growth um which by now would be sort of sort of more finalized and hardening off really but but indeed it’s amazing at

What hammer a big gross B happened this year and uh as you can see that that’s really quite considerable that’s probably more than it put on during the Spring months to be honest with you so again just reinforcing that every year is kind of different so as we head into

October now which is typically a really really good month for Maples you can see the pan is there behind in the pot behind have actually gone over um and yet me Lo kosimo here which I love uh just starting to see vague signs of change whereas the catsura here because

Of the the Summer sun um seems really really Advanced I think the sun sort of dries the leaves out and sort of brings the the Autumn forwards in a sense relative to other trees that don’t get so much sun um Carolina here out in the about still a great time of year the

Weather’s really quite mild actually um to go see things how they’re progressing I don’t know why I just find it kind of reassuring to see that that other trees are in the same boat I suppose really and that this um firecrackers is a super tree but again isn’t really

Performing at this stage as you’d expect but yes we can start now in sort of the mid October to start to see some changes going on um this is Jordan um which has did really really well it’s had a lot of shade which I know it needs little bit

Of burning of some of the leaves on the top but absolutely beautiful um and and more advanced ass sure swams generally either with me or out and about were more advanced but yes as we head towards the end of October here you can see that what as you’d expect really um the trees

Absolutely looking at their best but this the season was really very short so it was time to go out and and look and you know get out there because within weeks days really some trees had gone from not having much of a color change to to losing their leaves entirely so

I’m glad I took advantage so finally here in the UK um we’re into November which first time I’ve experienced this was better really for looking at aces in general um lovely to see some full colors at last and you can start to see the structure of the trees looking

Lovely again a great lesson for me was the fact that you’ve got trees like the sosimo which is not renowned for Autumn color but done really really well actually I think look really pretty whereas uh indeed the Sharon here as well lovely different color tones oranges Reds just just looking lovely

Whereas actually the colani which I was very very hopeful about um wasn’t really quite so good this is another tree which looks absolutely stunning to be honest with you out and about so again always good to look but can’t reiterate enough that my lesson is that you’ve got to be

Flexible you know have your your walking shoes handy because the seasons can be so different and in this case quite short really uh other trees like the sangaku which we saw earlier in the garden because of the more exposure to Sun Etc it’s just so much more advanced um and

Then on the other hand you’ve got the tree that’s in the ground because I think that’s another learning as well when they’re in the ground they seem to be behind my potty trees um but as you can see that looks like it’s a sort of October sort of type situation but it’s

Far far later than that really a little bit of burning on the leaves there but uh the leaves inside is still really quite green to be honest with you but nonetheless um lovely color changes this orange dream uh lovely tree really another learning from me as well or what

I’ve learned is that uh certain trees are consistent in in some respects so so this shishi gashira um the Lions M Maple every year it seems to be one of the last ones to lose its leaves one of the last ones to change color and I did do one or two videos

Just looking at um the December months in basically Tiding the trees up making sure they’re prepared for winter and in this case because it was a new tree just leave it in some Pebbles to make sure the drainage is great so thanks so so much for all those that have joined the

Channel and watch my videos throughout the year it’s really really appreciated and I do hope you’ll continue that Journey with me into 2024 if I can be any help to you then that’s absolutely fine please let me know and uh we’ll enjoy Japanese maples together through another year take care and a really

Happy New Year to you