Red plane tree

9 Apr '06 7:22 am

Does anyone know of plane trees (platanus) with red instead of yellow/brown autumn leaves? I bought this tree as a sapling some years ago in autumn at a rural nursery 700km away. It struck me as unusual with its cinnamon red autumn colour, which is why I bought it from among a batch of saplings. The owner was surprised at my questions and vaguely said ‘now that you mention it, one of my neighbours has a tree that I think goes red, perhaps that is where I got the seed from.” I have checked Hillier and all my other sources, but no-one talks of a red plane. This tree starts to turn in mid-Feb, is usually not quite so advanced in early April, and finally sheds its last leaves in late May – 3 months of spectacular show!

10 Apr '06 3:02 am

Never seen a plane like this, and never heard about it either! Has it flowered yet and have you checked it, I mean is it absolutely certain it's a plane and not, for instance, a maple (excuse me for the question Smile

)?

10 Apr '06 4:43 am

Hi again Alessandra! I double checked when I took these pics, asking myself those exact questions. No it has not flowered, but 1) it has the hard leaf typical of a plane and 2] it was standing among saplings marked planes, and was just like them except for the red colouring. I have had the plane/maple possibility in the back of my mind for 12 years now, and never had reason to doubt it was a plane - despite studying many planes and even more maples!

10 Apr '06 1:40 pm

I have made some research. It looks like a Platanus orientalis Mirkovec ( aka Platanus x acerifolia Mirkovec), but they might differ in that Mirkovec is slow groving (some say it is dwarf, some say it is shrubby, whereas yours look like a real tree from the photos) and apparently more pink and bronze than red, but however it seems to be very close to yours....they call it purple plane, so even the name seems to match Smile

...
Check this: http://www.hortusconclusus.be/dut/item.php?item=plat+or+'Mirkovec'. ( I am sorry but I cannot manage to make the link work, it must include the word Mirkovec or you will finish in the.. plain plane page Very Happy

).
I could not find other photos, though.
This European variety, discovered in Yugoslavia in 1965 as a chance seedling, does not seem to have hit the anglo-saxon market, yet, but is listed by various French and Dutch nurseries, and anyway you can find it in the RHS plant finder, also. It stats to turn its leaves red in august here in Europe and apparently they last long with their brilliant autumn color.
It could also be, considering that Mirkovec is a chance seedling, that yours is as well, and that planes have the potential capacity of turning red in autumn in their genes, and that it re-appears every now and then through casual crossing.
Hope this helps!
Alessandra

10 Apr '06 8:40 pm

What a star you are, Alessandra!

Thanks - your comments support my intuition about the red leaves, and your referencing is brilliant: thank you so much. The pics might have been of my tree! Do you read Dutch? (Afrikaans, my other home language, is descended from Dutch: a wonderful language, because it is so harsh that you can be sentimental in it without sounding sugary. Their description of the autumn colour as 'gewoon subliem' - plain sublime - has an untranslatable lilt to it!) As far as size is concerned - due to our long summers in South Africa, as well as the kind climate and deep soil on the farm, trees grow amazingly quickly. But this is a robust tree compared to other planes I have.

6 May '06 10:10 am

Hallo

Thanks for the link of my website : www.hortusconclusus.be
Your tree looks like a Platanus orientalis Mirkovec but I also think that your tree grows faster!
The research from Alessandra seems to be right!. Sorry, in Belgium we speek Dutch (a wonderful language...?) and writing something in English is verry difficult.

In my nursery I cultivate the 'Mircovec' and he grows realy verry slow, like a shrub. Maybe there is a possibility to get some plantmaterial to our country for propagation and comparison?

Red plane tree

Red plane tree

You ask all the right questions!

Thanks!

Red plane tree