The Gardens

Acer griseum / Paperbark Maple

Planted in fall 2006.

The beautiful attributes of this tree in 2015:

And how it started out in my garden:
7/14/2007

This was from Gledhill, a nice size on sale at the end of the season. Very nice tree, and a focal point coming up the driveway.  I wondered if it would ever be big enough to give some shade to the hot west side of the house.
4/23/2010 the bark is amazing

It's cinnamon brown all over, leaves and bark and buds, in late April 2010

Fall ‘08 it didn’t really color up, but in 2009 and 2010 it got good bronze color.
Fall color is a rich reddish brown - Nov. 9, 2010

It's an awkward shape.  In 2009 Bartlett pruned it for shape, and it's looking better. In 2010 I took a larger branch off the left side.
Oct. 7, 2012.  A nice shape now, with my pruning, and despite snow damage last year.

Oct. 12, 2012  All of a sudden in fall, 2012 this tree took on a nice shape.

Oct. 15, 2012 The bark is beautiful

In 2013 this tree seemed to get better and better as it matures. At times both the bark and the canopy glowed, and the shape continues to be developing much more pleasingly.
May 16, 2013

Now the rangy smokebush next to it needs to develop a nicer form!
September 29, 2013

Fall foliage is a mixed rust and copper hue, and not as vivid as the smokebush next to it, or the maples behind, but it's a decent autumn color.
November 1, 2013

After the leaves fall, the shiny peeling bark really stands out, and the form is visible. As it puts on more size, the form is becoming more balanced but it is still a stiffly coarse tree.
November 21, 2013

In 2104 this paperbark maple has continued to be a real focal point at the top of the driveway, and it's lovely viewed from the opposite side while in the gravel garden as well.
May 17, 2014
September 24, 2014
September 26, 2014
September 26, 2014 - a closer look at the same shot as above

Fall color was better in 2014 than other years -- not so rusty, a little richer red.
November 2, 2014

I always notice the shape of this tree most, just as it leafs out in May. In 2015 it looked lovely.
May 13, 2015
May 30, 2015

By the end of summer it is a somewhat shaggy, leafy thing, beautifully anchoring the garden at the top of the wall. It's never going to offer much shade on the house itself in late afternoon -- it's just not tall enough or set close enough for that. But it does partly shade the gravel garden in late morning and it offers green privacy from anyone coming up the driveway.
September 14, 2015

Fall color is never that great, though. The leaves start to turn and fall at the same time. It gets an interesting mottled mix of reds with the still-green leaves but loses them quickly.
October 29, 2015

Propagation:
Hard to propagate.
Cuttings have to be taken from small seedling plants.