In 1986 we moved into our first house that had a proper garden. It had belonged to a keen lady gardener who had sadly died, and we bought the house from her son.

In the course of getting to know our new garden we discovered an acer growing in deep undergrowth at the bottom of the lawn. Presumably at one time it would have been in the open, but time and neglect had taken their toll. It was weedy and pale and never going to do anything left where it was.

We dug it out (not an easy task)  and placed it in a rather nice pot, then stood back and waited to see what would happen. To our delight it rallied and once more became a handsome, elegant plant, and is still doing well.

How old it was in 1986 I have no idea, but that was 25 years ago, so we reckon it could be as much as 40 or 50 years old. It moved with us to our present home and has pride of place in the middle of the lawn.

It survived last winter’s freezing temperatures, but it’s new leaves got caught with a late frost for the second year running, despite my best attempts to cover it up.

Fortunately it seems to have the ability to start again, and is now looking as lovely as ever as you can see.

Acer