Acer davidii Serpentine - Maple

<strong>Maples or Acer are beautiful forest trees or bushes indispensable in gardens, whether large or modest in size.</strong> They offer a festival of colour whether through the mottled bark of so‑called “snake‑skin” maples, the brilliance of juvenile foliage followed by an intense green, purple or cream variegation, then in autumn by a wash of foliage colours sometimes golden yellow, sometimes turning scarlet. Opposite, lobed, dentate or palmate leaves provide an interesting graphic and variable shade depending on lamina size. Large species are exploited for their wood even though they grow mixed with other leafy species. We will not discuss here the <a href="https://www.promessedefleurs.ie/gardening-tips/familysheet/japanese-maple-planting-pruning-and-maintaining/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Japanese maples</a>, which form a world of their own with a multitude of cultivars. <strong>With growth ranging from fairly rapid to slow and generally very hardy</strong>, down to -20°C, <strong>maples are easy to grow</strong>. They prefer rich, deep, fresh, humus-bearing, acidic to neutral soils, in full sun or partial shade. However some species such as Montpellier maple (Acer monspessulianum) or Cappadocian maple (Acer cappadocicum) are perfectly adapted to dry summers and populate garrigue, scrub vegetation or fallow areas with soils of varied pH. Pruning consists of removing old shoots that are in excess or poorly formed, generally in winter. With varied habit, maples can be used in every corner of the garden: as specimen trees, in hedges, in borders, within a collection of notable trees or in a grove. <strong>Some species are perfect for cultivation as bonsai or in pots</strong>.