ACER PALMATUM 'ORANGE DREAM'

In May 2014 I bought an Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream' from a British store that sells everything from clothes, to beauty products, to flowers and food. Not so much plants nowadays. The plant was small and cost me £15, which was quite expensive back then. It was a beautiful thing but it quickly died and that was when I first discovered that dreaded vine weevils had arrived in my garden and had eaten all its roots! In 2023, I finally eradicated vine weevils by desperately bombarding my garden with Nemasys, not just as recommended but monthly, I wasn't having those munching weevils and their little root gnawing offspring killing off anything else. It was expensive but money well spent.

Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream' - October 2025 - repotted

A week or so ago, I decided to buy another 'Orange Dream' and so I ordered one from a seller on Amazon for just short of £13. I had used them before and they were excellent but, oh boy, the 'Orange Dream' turned up looking like not much more than a twig. My mistake, after all, nowadays you definitely get what you pay for and they did say it was in a 9cm pot. The seller kindly refunded me without argument or a need to return and I have decided to give that struggling little plant (perhaps I shall call it Twiggy) the best chance it can get of surviving this winter, come what may.

Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream' - October 2025

There is so much conflicting information about potting, transplanting, and growing Japanese maples (acers) in general that I decided to go with my gut. The 'twig' didn't have a whole lot of roots either so I repotted it in a not-much-bigger plastic pot in Melcourt Sylvagrow All Purpose Peat Free compost with Added John Innes, and then I planted that pot in one of my small terracotta decorated pots surrounding the pot, (sides, bottom and top) with Melcourt SylvaBark pine bark mini mulch after covering the drainage hole with a crock.