Acer micranthum David Geiger and pair with hellebores

and pair with hellebores

Use white beautyberry massed for a luminous late-season effect

The name says as much: mayhaw

and it earns them: slow

tangy juice

Acer micranthum David Geiger and pair with helleboresAmong the snakebark maples, Acer micranthum ranks with the most delicate, a small, sometimes shrubby tree from the mountains of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku, where the Japanese know the plant as the Komine maple. The species has no settled English name, and that quiet anonymity suits a tree grown for refinement rather than show. James Harris, in The Gardener's Guide to Growing Maples, calls this "a very elegant maple with attractive autumn tints," and