Vine Maples Turning Red in the Autumn

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katie59 Woodinville, WA(Zone 8b) Oct 04, 2007

Okay, now here's one that has stumped me for a long time. Why is it that some vine maples turn fabulous shades of red in the fall and some don't do much other than turn yellow and drop their leaves?

I'm talking about the same variety of native vine maple that we have up here in the Pacific Northwest. Anybody have any ideas?

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Oct 04, 2007

Most trees are variable in autumn colour like this - it's normal genetic variability.

Resin

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shadowgarden Philo, OH(Zone 6a) Oct 04, 2007

The leaves have other chemicals carotene (for yellow) and anthrocyanin (for red). They are always there but in the fall the leaves stop making chloraphyll so when the green goes you can see them. I think that if you have more rain before a frost you get a brighter red. As Resin says some trees just probably make more of the chemicals than others.

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katie59 Woodinville, WA(Zone 8b) Oct 04, 2007

Huh. That's what I was afraid of . . . natural genetic variability. Do you have any sense of how stable this is through generations? Might it be good for me to save seedlings I can find from one that turns?

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MitchF Lindsay, OK(Zone 7a) Oct 05, 2007

Cuttings might work best - or a grafting. Grafting is simple for most things but I have never worked on a maple

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Oct 05, 2007

So apparently my vine maple that has never turned beautiful colors is never going to do so? Rats! Neither of the ones I have turns colors in the fall. I'm thinking that if I want to replace them, I better buy trees in the fall so I can see their colors.

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katie59 Woodinville, WA(Zone 8b) Oct 05, 2007

Hi Resin -

I was just looking at information about Northumberland tonight. In which part do you reside - toward the coast or in the hills? What's the climate like there?

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Oct 05, 2007

Toward the coast (just over 10km inland); close enough to the North Sea to get mild winters (just on the edge of zone 9), and cool (to downright miserably cold!!) summers; fairly dryish (annual rainfall about 700mm) but rain well-distributed through the year. Most of the PNW trees grow well to very well here.

Resin

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katie59 Woodinville, WA(Zone 8b) Oct 05, 2007

Sounds like a perfect place for planting. Have you lived there all your life? Small town or big? Sorry, I'm just fascinated by the English countryside and the beauty and romance of it. I have heard that Northumberland is mostly rural - is that true?

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