I bought this in November 2003, when the leaves were extraordinarily
beautiful shades of red.

It has prospered and grown into an attractive tree, but has never again
shown any red in the leaves in autumn. They remain stubbornly green until
they fall off.

Is there anything I can do to bring back its radiance next autumn, please?

Best wishes
Daphne

On 29/10/07 17:36, in article ,
"dafs" wrote:

I bought this in November 2003, when the leaves were extraordinarily
beautiful shades of red.

It has prospered and grown into an attractive tree, but has never again
shown any red in the leaves in autumn. They remain stubbornly green until
they fall off.

Is there anything I can do to bring back its radiance next autumn, please?

Best wishes
Daphne

Perhaps it needs a good long spell of hot sunshine to ensure the autumn
colour? In which case, if you've got influence........

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 29/10/07 17:36, in article ,
| "dafs" wrote:
|
| I bought this in November 2003, when the leaves were extraordinarily
| beautiful shades of red.
|
| It has prospered and grown into an attractive tree, but has never again
| shown any red in the leaves in autumn. They remain stubbornly green until
| they fall off.
|
| Is there anything I can do to bring back its radiance next autumn, please?
|
| Best wishes
| Daphne
|
| Perhaps it needs a good long spell of hot sunshine to ensure the autumn
| colour? In which case, if you've got influence........

Or cold weather setting in before the dark and wet. In both cases,
Cambridge does relatively well by UK standards, but the past few
years have not been good for such things.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 29/10/07 17:48, in article , "Nick
Maclaren" wrote:


In article ,
Sacha writes:
| On 29/10/07 17:36, in article ,
| "dafs" wrote:
|
| I bought this in November 2003, when the leaves were extraordinarily
| beautiful shades of red.
|
| It has prospered and grown into an attractive tree, but has never again
| shown any red in the leaves in autumn. They remain stubbornly green
until
| they fall off.
|
| Is there anything I can do to bring back its radiance next autumn,
please?
|
| Best wishes
| Daphne
|
| Perhaps it needs a good long spell of hot sunshine to ensure the autumn
| colour? In which case, if you've got influence........

Or cold weather setting in before the dark and wet. In both cases,
Cambridge does relatively well by UK standards, but the past few
years have not been good for such things.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Colours are okay down here but nothing really outstanding. And it's quite
patchy. Occasionally, something is really eye-catching but there's no
overall panoply of colour. We tend to get warmish and muggy weather here in
autumn and in winter too - rarely get snow and if frost comes it's unusual
for it to last long, though enough to do some damage occasionally. We
mulch a few things we might worry about but mostly leave the rest of sink or
swim. Salvia involucrata and Impatiens tinctoria have come up in different
parts of the garden for several years running now. Ray mulched one clump of
the Salvia and left the Impatiens alone. Mind you, having come from an
island where that pretty, trailing Ballota grew up through Camellias and
Pelargoniums flowered through winter quite often, I think it's very cold
here in winter!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On 29 Oct, 17:36, "dafs" wrote:
I bought this in November 2003, when the leaves were extraordinarily
beautiful shades of red.
It has prospered and grown into an attractive tree, but has never again
shown any red in the leaves in autumn. They remain stubbornly green until
they fall off.
Is there anything I can do to bring back its radiance next autumn, please?

The weather! Low temps destroy chorophyll and let the caratenoids
(yellow pigment) show through. If the trees are staying in an above
freezing environment, this will promote anthocyanin (red, blue and
purple pigments). These pigments are formed from sugars, the more
sugars, the more colours. When conditions are dry, there's more
concentration of sugar in the sap, more light and low temps promotes
even more. The best colours are therefore achieved with a dry,
bright, sunny days with cool nights after a dry august/sept.

Unless you can change the weather ... but you could make sure your
tree is not overcast - shadows/shade might stop the making of sugars.
Make sure it's not waterlogged either or too protected by side high
fences etc.

In the North West we're having the most wonderful autumn that I can
remember. It's simply fantastic ) Where are you?