Acer autroperpurea is one of the Japanese acers. It needs to be grown in a wind free area of your garden in semi shade so that it does not receive direct sunlight in the middle of the day. The soil needs to be neutral to acidic so if your soil is alkaline you will need to use ericaceous compost. Finally as with any new tree it needs a lot of water, have you keep it really well watered since you planted it?

thank you moon grower, i planted the acer in the ground and the leaves went brown and curled up, so i thought it maybe sun or wind, so i put it in a pot by the fence for more shelter and have today noticed that a new leaf is curled at the edges, i put the cotton palm into the hole where i had taken out the acer and the top of the leaves are yellow, i thought they tolerated drought and sun, my garden is south facing, do i prune an acer? THAT IS WHEN THERE IS ANYTHING LEFT ON IT TO BE PRUNED

Pattiflat unless you can find a spot in semi shade and out of the wind your Acer is not going to survive. You have not said whether you have been watering regularly since you were given the Acer the earlier part of the year was hot and dry so your Acer is undoubtedly stressed. You also didn't tell me if you had your Acer in ericaceous compost which it needs if it is in a pot. No you don't want to prune at all at this time just follow the advice I have given.

Your cotton palm can tolerate drought once it is established right now it too needs to be kept well watered.

Both of your trees are trying to get their roots established until they do they find it difficult to get enough water. Moving your Acer from the ground to a pot caused further stress.

thankyou moon grower, unfortunately i put it in multi purpose compost, also i did forget to water, but will definitely do it once a dya now, will this be enough, have given the palm some palm food, what can i feed the acer on, is fish bloodi and bone any good. i am an awful gardner moongrower, is there any hope for me

Please see your other question for care instructions regarding the palm - and do not feed anything at this time of year, the growing season is virtually over until spring next year.

Pattiflat for your Acer get some ericaceous compost, remove as much of the compost in the pot that you can, without disturbing the roots, and replace with the ericaceous compost. Then keep well watered i.e. really soak three times a week, even if it is raining. You might also want to by Sequestrene granules at the same time and use as instructed on the box.