I think it was Mike (Treelover) who earlier stated that these need an extended warm/hot summer to color-up well. It got warm early here (no freeze in April) and summer was very hot and dry, so it looks like he's on the money with that one. It'll be interesting to see how it colors in a more typical (i.e. cooler) summer. Considering it scorched pretty bad during the depth of the July drought, it didn't turn out too bad.
Mike will tell you to only buy this tree during fall as these are seed grown and vary deeply amongst their peers.
However, I for the first time had a Paperbark Maple turn blazing red for the first time in 5 years (last year) as compared to bronzy "junk" color. So maybe too age is a factor and I've just never heard of this being of any intellectual value (as of yet).
Also, I agree that maybe the stress of hot summers could also turn the blaze button on.
Two thoughts, and no answer!
Dax
