Brighten up your plot with some eye-catching snake-bark maple
Looking for great winter colour? Then snake-bark maples will bring your garden alive
WHEN I was in my late teens I was employed by a commercial nursery that specialised in trees and shrubs. Over a four-year period my head was turned by thousands of woody beauties but there was one variety that truly seduced me – the wonderfully named snake-bark maple.
There was a long row of them in a two-acre field. The trees had green and white, vertically streaked bark that looked rough but was perfectly smooth to the touch. I’d never seen a tree with such amazing stems and was thrilled when my boss made me responsible for keeping them in peak condition.
A few years later, I found out the variety has another name – Pere David’s maple. This is in honour of Armand David, a French missionary and botanist who stumbled across it in China during the 1860s. He discovered scores of other important plants and was the first westerner to catch sight of a giant panda.
Some trees have just one season of interest, but the snake-bark maple (Acer davidii) works hard all year round. It has attractive shiny foliage, bunches of redtinged winged fruit, spectacular autumn colour and, of course, bark displayed to its best effect from late autumn until the start of spring.
Yet it’s not the only maple with a fancy trunk. There are plenty of other members of this family of trees from China, Japan and North America, with vibrant, patterned or textured bark. Some have equally striking young twigs or buds that sometimes contrast vividly with the colour of the bark.
Discovered in Japan back in 1892 by plant hunter Charles Sargent, Acer capillipes is a gorgeous snake-bark maple with green and grey striped bark, and gleaming red buds. The tree will eventually grow to 25ft by 12ft across and has lobed leaves that turn orange, then bright red before they fall. Acer capillipes ‘Antoine’ is more slender, making it a better choice for smaller gardens.
The snake-bark maple that I first clapped eyes on, Acer davidii, has held a Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit for 30 years. Two of its progeny are also worth seeking out: A. davidii ‘George Forrest’ for its emerald green bark with vertical white stripes, and A. davidii ‘Serpentine’, a variety with purple and white streaked bark – this one will reach 20ft in time but will take decades to attain its full height.
Just one species of fancy-barked maple is native to North America. Moosewood (Acer pensylvanicum) has green bark (fading to brown as it matures) marked by white striations. Acer pensylvanicum ‘Erythrocladum’ is a cracking variety whose large leaves turn a buttery yellow before dropping to reveal coral and white striped bark, along with bright pink young shoots.
Acer x conspicuum trees are mainly the result of breeding work carried out on Acer davidii and Acer pensylvanicum.
Introduced in the early 1980s, Acer x conspicuum ‘Phoenix’ has greenish yellow bark in summer that turns a glowing red with silver stripes in winter. ‘Mozart’ and ‘Candy Stripe’ are more recent introductions with deep purple bark adorned with white streaks. All are slow- growing and unlikely to grow more than 10ft in a decade. Perhaps the most distinctive maple with showy bark is Acer griseum, a multistemmed tree that arrived here from China in 1901.
It’s known as paper-bark maple because its older bark peels away in flakes to reveal a cinnamon-coloured trunk beneath. It’s one of the best for autumn colour with deeply cut leaves that turn orange and crimson.
Now is the perfect time to plant these trees. New arrivals will become established quickly in warm, moist soil, forming roots that will enable the branches to explode into life in spring.
They should be planted in circular holes that are three times the width of the root system and a just a little bit deeper.
If the bottom of the hole is compacted, break the soil up lightly with a fork and prick the sides to allow roots to penetrate. Old gardening books recommend adding a layer of compost to the bottom of the hole, but this should be avoided as the tree can sink into the ground as the material rots.
Those planting container-grown trees should scrape off the top layer of compost from the rootball to remove any weeds or moss, then carefully tease out roots from the sides and bottom to help them grow into the surrounding soil.
Place the tree in the centre of the hole and gradually fill with the excavated soil, firming it down as you go.
Bare root maples need planting at the same depth as they were growing before being lifted from the ground – there should be an obvious ‘tide mark’ of soil on the trunk. Put the tree in the hole and lay a garden cane across the top. If it doesn’t line up with the mark, add or remove soil until it’s at the same level.
These trees prefer fertile, moist but well-drained earth in full sun or partial shade. They are perfect grown as specimens in a lawn, mixed with other trees in a woodland setting or planted in a bed alongside other winter-interest plants, such as dogwoods, witch hazel and mahonia.
Another option is to put them next to a path, patio or other prominent spot close to your house, where you can easily admire their bark during the bleak months to come.