YOUASK...

Dear Diarmuid

We have an acer, a red Bloodgood, which is about 10 years old and over six foot tall.

It has developed lots of little helicopter-type pods which we assume are seeds.

Is this very unusual and can we grow from them?

Mr and Mrs Pigrome

Yoxford, Suffolk

Hi Mr and Mrs Pigrome

Yes you’re right – these little helicopters are the seeds of your maple.

Nature’s design helps them take flight and thereby encourages their dispersal. You can propagate from them – the result will be a red-leaf maple but not exactly the same as the parent. There will be some variation, unlike a cutting which produces a clone of the parent.

Leave the seeds on the tree to mature until they brown in the autumn, then harvest and sow them. Because their outer shell is hard, you can soften them by soaking in water. Diarmuid