Winterthur is the legacy of Henry Francis du Pont, 1880-1969, American

 

 

A Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) arrived at Winterthur, Delaware as a gift to Winterthur’s owner,  Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969, American) about 100 years ago. 

 

Planted on a slope and often the subject of plein air artists, this magnificent tree keeps a schedule different from the trees around. 

 

 

Twice in a year its leaves pass through fires: in late spring and summer reds of maroon, ruby, fox and plum;

 

 

 

 

And then in late autumn, red-oranges and shades of yellow

 

 

 

 

 

In between these two periods, in late summer, its leaves are green.

 

 

 

 

The non-native magnolias are in full flower when the Japanese maple begins to put out green shoots in late April

 

 

 

Saucer and Alexandrina magnolia in April 

 

 

 

And sometimes it is an early snow which puts out the maple’s last embers in November. 

 

 

In leaf, the tree is large and you can live under its boughs. 

 

 

 

 

 

In winter and early spring, the tree is a shadow of itself, small in volume:  a pale scribble left on its slope.

 

 

 

 

Its exposed roots in winter are a reminder of its actual size.

 

 

 

Photos taken in the last ten years of the great pleasure of this tree over twenty-five years.

 

 

 

___________________________________________

 

 

 

 

March/April

 

 

Glory of the snow in the understory of the Japanese maple

 

 

Winter aconite in the understory of the Japanese maple

 

 

 

April/May through August

 

 

Amur Adonis populate the understory of the Japanese maple 

 

Virginia Bluebell in April under the boughs of the Japanese maple

 

 

Azalea on the slope below the Japanese maple

 

 

 

 

August-September-October

 

 

 

Ferns under the boughs of the Japanese Maple

 

 

 

 

October/November

 

 

A Norwegian spruce at the back of the Japanese maple, separated by a path,  always tends to overshadow the maple but this is obvious only in winter

 

 

 

The tree is not entirely naked in winter.

Moss clings if  autumn and winter are intermittently warm.

 

 

 

 

Leaves turn silver-brown  and some  remain attached.

 

 

 

 

 

Then, after the last snow

 

 

 

After the Lenten roses appear in March

 

Lenten rose in March in Winterthur

 

 

 

after the blues have colonized the grounds of Winterthur in March

 

 

 

then the Japanese maple sends out its fine green shoots before leafing into its magnificent fiery reds which do not burn.