Wordless Wednesday - Saturday Edition

Wordless Wednesday - Saturday Edition
Coral Bark Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'

'Sango Kaku' Coral Bark Japanese Maple

Coral Bark Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’
(AY-ser) (pahl-MAY-tum)
Synonym: Senkaki

Once I saw the light slanting down on the Coral Bark it was time for a picture! I love this little tree and usually plant one or a group in every garden I design. It has a small stature (in this area) for a Japanese Maple and grows in shade, although the twig color appears better in sun. I wouldn’t call it dwarf but it isn’t full size either, it certainly seems to be a semi-slow grower. The lime green foliage is a nice contrast during the spring and summer but the real show starts when the leaves turn bright yellow in the fall. The fall color is very persistent and then seems to drop off all at once to reveal the second show of the coral red twigs and branches for the winter. The branch color does fade a little after the wood ages after several years but it is still very attractive.

I grow several cultivars of Coral Bark Japanese Maple but I think ‘Sango Kaku’ is still my favorite. It is most often available at a reasonable price and more and more nurseries seem to be carrying it. This particular tree has been planted for about 12 years and it is about 12 feet tall with an equal spread. It was planted in heavy shade but a few years ago we had to remove some the trees and branches that were shading it and it literally exploded with growth. It didn’t get much taller, just much thicker and more graceful.

I strongly recommend this tree.

Here is a link to World Plants.com, which shows some of the other Coral Bark Japanese Maples available.
world plants.com/coral bark

More 50mm/1.8 Photos

Here are some more shots from the 50mm/1.8. In some ways I against having too many lenses in your bag as it complicates things. I start thinking well if I only had this lens or that lens. Basically you need to have a couple of good lenses and a pretty good camera to get good shots.


The first picture greeted as I walked out the door yesterday morning. Too bad the day didn’t live up to this sunrise. It was just one of those days where a lot of little things kept me from getting done what I wanted. I did get the sprinkler system blown out but it took all day. I did manage to walk around and get a few pictures. This is a native tree from the Estate. Pretty good color for a seedling.


I read on Ki’s blog that his ‘Beni Kawa’ Japanese Maple was in fall color already and many of his other Maples hadn’t changed yet. So of course I had to check my specimen and sure enough it was coloring up. There are some other Coral Bark Maples planted near this one (‘Japanese Sunrise’ and ‘Sango Kaku’) and they haven’t started yet either. You can actually just see the tips of ‘Sango Kaku’ coming into the picture on the left. One thing I have noticed about Coral Barks is they do hold their fall color for a long time. Anyway I thought it was interesting that both of the ‘Beni Kawa’s were turning already and I think it maybe a characteristic of the cultivar.


I posted recently I was moving some shrubs that had grown too big and were interfering with the drainage along side the house. Here is a picture of the monster Burning Bush we moved. I put the rake in there for scale. Pretty good for two people, although Karen did help drag it out of the hole. It looked good in its new spot. We moved that big Pieris in the background and a large Redvein Enkianthus (E. campanulatus) and Koreanspice Viburnum (V. carlesii). The stuff had been in for 18 years and I was sick of trying to prune it back. This is not at the estate but another garden I designed and built in New Canaan.