Flowering Acer

I was at the Malvern show a couple of weeks ago, and an acer in one of the show gardens caught my eye:



It was apparently called Nicholsonii, so I dutifully trotted over to the acer nursery stand to ask about. They said that it only looked so good because it was in flower, and that might only happen every 8-10 years, and generally seemed a bit fed up about the number of people who came to ask about it

Do all/most acers have the potential to flower this way, but it happens so rarely I've never seen it? Does anyone have any experience with Nicholsonii and how frequently it may flower in an average garden?

 

Hi @2nd_bassoon I have two Salix plants and they don't flower like the Acer plants they change leave colour but to the eye it does look like flowering.

I've not got one or ever had one but this information may help

RightPlants

 

Those are seed pods ( commonly known as " helicopter wings " . Acers do flower but they are inconspicuous.

 

Makes sense. I assume the seed pods follow the flowers then?

 

Hi KFF...this isn't mentioned though when reading about the plant only about leaf changes in colour... for mentioning that another piece of information learnt never having one myself