Acer circinatum
Vine Maple "Jaroslav Mudryi" - Acer circinatum.
A beautiful deciduous shrub or low (up to 12 m) tree with a rounded crown, thin bare branches and shiny, purple annual shoots.
Unusually decorative 5-9-lobed leaves 6-12 cm in size, lobes pointed, unevenly doubly serrated; petioles 2.5-3.5 cm.
Flowers are large, about 1.2 cm in diameter, with purple sepals and whitish petals, collected in 20-flowered drooping shields. Wings are almost horizontal, 3-5 cm long. Blooms in May, fruits ripen in September.
Maple is used in group and single plantings, in Japanese gardens. In autumn, the leaves are painted in unusually beautiful purple, red and orange colours.
Agrotechnology.
The marsh maple prefers light, sheltered from winter winds places, demanding of moisture, undemanding to soils. Seeds are sown before winter or they will require long stratification (up to 3.5 months) at a temperature of +3+5 °C. To stimulate germination, seeds are soaked before sowing for 24-72 hours in hydrogen peroxide. In late April - early May, hatched seeds are sown in beds to a depth of 3-4 cm. They germinate within 15-20 days, and in the first year of life, shoots reach a height of 20-50 cm.
Care consists of weeding, loosening and watering, in hot weather it is necessary to shade young plants from the sun. Transplantation to a permanent place at the age of one to three years.
During the dry period, plants should be watered.
Dry and diseased branches are systematically removed from maples. Winter-hardy in Estonian conditions, but in particularly frosty winters, annual shoots partially freeze. Young maple seedlings should be covered in severe winters.