SOMETIMES one can enjoy the benefits of a beautiful tree even when it is not in the garden - but in the plot next door.
Pictured above is a scene from my back garden, and in the centre of all the lushness, note the outstanding specimen of Acer platanoides Drummondii growing in the garden next door.
It looks wonderful from my property (as mine probably does from theirs) and it adds immeasurably to my own collection of trees and shrubs.
I admire this as much as any of my own treasures and value it for its shape, form, colouring, movement, and texture.
As it has aged over the years its appearance has strengthened and improved like vintage port or fine wine.
Acer Drummondii is a maple, a tree for which I have a great fondness. Its shape is decisive, as if it knows its place in the plant world and is determined to make it stay there.
The specimen in question has a rounded head, is sturdy to eighteen feet in height, and graciously equipped with five-lobed, variegated leaves which this year are better than I have ever seen them.
Similar trees around the suburbs are also of a similar structure and it delights me to see more and more being planted as ‘street furniture’ by the city council and their fellow members in the county.
This is a great choice for gardens, one that should be considered long before any thoughts of rejection are entertained.
It has one distinct drawback (easily overcome) a condition which should not give rise for dismissal.
It has a habit of reverting branches to an all green colouring, thus losing its magnificent yellow variegation as it develops over the seasons.
Unless one takes out such growths as they appear the condition progresses eventually taking over the entire canopy.
These growths emerge small and are hardly noticed, but in time they continue to enlarge and when eventually removed, the shape of the tree is appreciably altered.
Keep a watch then on the trees’ progress and waste no time when all-green shoots are noticed.
Apart from this, Drummondii will delight in any month its foliage is showing.
