Vivid shades

It’s too early for any real colour in our garden yet — the early spring flowers are over, the blossom of the trees has gone, and to be honest we have not even thought about border plants yet.
 
Which means our Japanese Acer, or Maple, at present holds pride of place for adding colour to our garden.
 
Ours is grown in an ornamental pot and has just come into a full leafed almost vivid red foliage, and its benefit is that it will keep this colour right up to late autumn.
 
Its name gives its origin away, and apparently Japanese Maples or Acers, were cultivated in the Far East long before they came to Europe but now are particular suited to oriental gardens here.
 
From our point of view they are perfect for small gardens, especially grown in a large pot like ours, and with a solar light in the pot, we get the beauty throughout the day and late into the evening when daylight has gone.
 
The experts tell us Japanese maples will grow best when sheltered. But red and purple leaved varieties do need some sun to develop fully their dark hues.  They are deciduous and lose their leaves in late autumn, but till then are a magnificent focus to the garden