Acer conspicuum 'Phoenix' is my Favorite Plant This Week.

 

At a nursery the other day, I saw an old friend, Acer conspicuum 'Phoenix.'  It's golden autumn foliage and red coral branches looking quite fine against the blue (really, it happened) sky.

 

 

I have one in my own garden but right now a particularly tired giant grass is lying over the top of it so we'll just look at these images instead.

Hardy in zones 5a through 8b and growing to only six to ten feet, (some sources say larger) this very slow growing, tree is great for smaller gardens. 

While the foliage is lovely in the fall, I grow this one mostly for the terrific winter bark color.

 

You can see why this group of maples is also called snake bark maples.  

 

 As you can see from this picture lifted from Flora Wonder Blog, the colors intensify as winter sets in.  Mine glows from across the garden in the winter when the bright shot of warm color is especially welcome.  Surely you could find room in your garden for such a beauty.  Can you imagine it in front of dark evergreens?  Maybe some golden twig dogwood at its feet? 



For more of this weeks favorite plants, head on over to Danger Garden and check out the comments for links to other gardeners' posts!