ACER palmatum 'Red Baron' It's funny how a plant can "speak to you" as my son puts it, but for no obviously apparent reason. And so it is for me with this one. Essentially a simple purple leaved palmatum, yet somehow this one stands apart. Its brilliant red autumn colour was truly awesome last year. Tidy, rather upright small tree with smaller than average leaves.
	ACER palmatum 'Red Cloud' A member of the linearilobum group with narrow, thread-like lobes. Easiest described as more vigorous but less intensely purple than 'Enkan', yet having thinner lobes and holding its reddish-purple colour longer than 'Red Pygmy below.
	ACER palmatum 'Red Emperor' see 'Emperor I'
	ACER palmatum 'Red Flash' An Italian introduction this time. The bright red leaves give a wonderful splash of colour as they open in the spring. The colour is held for a surprisingly long time but it eventually matures to deep purple-red before turning vivid red again. Like 'Red Baron', the leaves are smaller than is typical in this group. Upright in habit and slow initially, but it has the potential to achieve some 3m in height by half as wide in 10 years.
	ACER palmatum 'Red Pygmy'  Of the linearilobum group, the dark purple spring colour (photo left) fades to brownish green in the summer before becoming yellow and red in autumn (as photo right). It holds its colour better than its predecessor, 'Atrolineare' (particularly in good light as we have discussed before). 2m
	ACER palmatum 'Red Spider' A delightful Canadian introduction from the linearilobum group. The leaf shape, size and colour is uniform - the strap like lobes are a strong red which is held well all summer before changing to a brilliant blood red in autumn. Although initially upright in habit, the horizontal side branches can curve down at the tips to give a delightful feeling of grace when it develops a rounded head with maturity. 3m. See it in our Maples Glade.
	ACER palmatum 'Red Wood'  This cultivar is very similar to the well known 'Sangokaku' with wonderful coral-red coloured bark in winter. This selection is reputedly even better, holding the colour for much longer. This selection is noticeably more compact, maintaining its upright habit for longer, and typically produces bright yellow autumn colour. These wonderful Maples are guaranteed to brighten any winter landscape. See it in our Winter Garden.
	ACER palmatum 'Rising Sun' The fiery autumn colours drew my attention to this one. Although not a particularly new cultivar, it is not as widely known as it deserves to be. The leaves are slightly smaller than average, emerging surprisingly golden in spring before turning green. Autumn colours start later than most and are initially an unremarkable deep purple, but progress through all the bonfire colours in the most spectacular manner, finishing a golden orange before dropping. Tidy, bushy headed small tree.
	ACER palmatum 'Ruby Ridge' Large leaves with pointed lobes give this one a very different appearance to most cultivars. The young growth is a bright reddish-purple, becoming darker as the summer progresses. Fabulous orange autumn colours. Upright, compact habit, but very slow growing, so this is one that we seldom propagate.
	ACER palmatum 'Ruby Star' This is an extremely compact and slow growing selection with small rather star-like leaves. Initially bright reddish purple in the spring, they darken as they mature, before turning more or less green later in the summer. Lovely orange autumn colours. We seldom propagate this one as it is very difficult to grow in our exposed conditions.
	ACER palmatum 'Ryûzu' Another desirable dwarf to little more than 1m. The comparatively large pale green leaves are overlain with tones of pink or red with serrated margins. Outstanding autumn colours in shades of gold and orange. Inevitably, given its smaller dimensions, it will be slow growing and smaller at every stage. However, it does seem comparatively robust and able to establish even in our difficult conditions. See it in our Maple Glade.
	ACER palmatum 'Samidare'  It means "Early Summer Rain", but don't hold its name against it! The leathery leaves are large at 10-12cm across. Upon unfolding, they are tinged pink but almost immediately turn a fresh green. Golden yellow autumn colour speckled crimson is quite distinctive. A very sturdy and robust grower to 5m high by as much wide, though surprsingly slow to get going.
	ACER  palmatum 'Samurai' See Acer palmatum 'Beni shigitatsu sawa'
	ACER palmatum 'Sango kaku' Also known as Acer palmatum 'Senkaki', this wonderful plant surely needs no introduction! The "Coral Bark Maple" is so called due to its brilliant coral red stems in winter. The young leaves are tinted and margined orange, becoming green, with striking orange and yellow autumn colour. An upright grower to 7m eventually, filling out to 6m wide. Beware of variable and inferior seedlings! We have selected this form for superior bark colour and vivid young growth. See also  A. palmatum 'Eddisbury', A. palmatum 'Beni kawa', A. palmatum 'Red Wood' and A. palmatum 'Winter Flame'.