There is nothing you can do to change the colour of an Acer’s leaves. The one you describe sounds really nice. There are Acers with the leaves you would prefer, but they are a different variety. have a look under A at the bottom of the page to help in choosing.

You may find the leaf colour changing in the autumn depending on the variety of your Acer

Dido & Bilbobaggins, I'm sorry, but Japanese Acer leaves are at there best when they first open and through the summer, by autumn they can start to look somewhat green - especially on the underside of the leaf. The big Acers grown in the US and very large gardens here are the ones that have the spectacular autumn colour.

Hi Bilbo I stand corrected :-) The acers I was referring to in the US & Canada are maples which change colour spectacularly in autumn, I should say 'fall', and folk drive for hundred of miles to simply look at them. Having seen them once I can say they are very impressive!

Moon grower, I'm sorry it seems you haven't had much luck with your Acers, especially if you are speaking from personal experience, the varieties of Acers I grow at home which are definitely not the "big American" ones produce a striking show every Autumn and usually end the season a totally different colour from the fresh spring growth

Bulba & I have a wonderful time with our Japanese Acers however, the varieties we have tend to actually get greener as the year progresses starting of with bright red foliage. With over 1,000 cultivars this is always going to be an interesting topic!

Though I would point out that although Acer griseum, which we have in the garden, is from Japan it is not what is normally referred to as a Japanese Acer which implies the Acer palmatums and with these to foliage does not improve in autumn. So perhaps we need to ask Jim for a clearer i.d. for his Japanese Acer :-)

I agree Bilbo it would be great if Jim replied...