Acer now in the sun

I have this acer that has been happily growing next to a six foot fence keeping him in the shade, but fence has had to come down, he has been exposed to full sun with all that really hot weather and no scorching or burning happened, yet! He has been there for about five years. Opinions or advice on moving him please?

Thanks!

 

It is possible to move them, but I'd wait until the winter. I'd also take the opportunity to shape it a bit, as after being moved it won't have to work so hard feeding those long branches. But that's your choice.

We had a similar acer here in front of the tea-house I was building in 1987.




As it would block the entrance, I couldn't leave it there. It was in the late summer when I moved it, I really had no choice, so I took a chance, but I was able to create a decent sized root ball, it went a bit limp but I watered it every day until it revived.

I moved it to the front garden. It's done very well since. This is it today. It's about fifteen feet tall now. It'll fill out more as we get into the summer. But it'd be much taller and wider if I didn't re-shape it every winter. I wouldn't want it any bigger in our small front garden.

 

Do you think it could survive there if the full blast of sun we hadn’t affected it?

 

There's always the possibility of acers getting their leaves burned. The one in the front garden is mostly in the shade, as that garden is North facing, it's not a big problem. But I put a lot of water on it every few days as we've fast draining soil. I think the leaves can go a bit "crispy" if they are short of water.

Now these which are in our back garden are in full sun, for much of the day, but this one does get a bit of shade for part of the day from the big conifer on the rockery.




This one is in the shade of the tea-house in late afternoon.





Likewise, the tall bamboo behind this one give it some shade late on in the day,



But on really hot days I often give them a mist spray in the middle of the afternoon. I can't say the leaves have ever burned. There is an opinion that you shouldn't water plants in the sun, but it's not one to which I subscribe. I think a mist spray is beneficial for these plants.

 

It does get some shade in the late afternoon from the shed, your acers are really beautiful!

I love it where it is so would rather not move it, I just thought they never tolerated sun and it would harm him there without the shade, Looking at yours I should definitely give him a trim

Thank you so much for your help

 

Yes, you could improve the visual aspect with a trim. I'm all for "helping nature."

The little acer at the bottom of the garden, before I pruned it, reminded me of a figure in Monet's painting "Sunlight under the Poplars," (you can't tell whether it's supposed to be a child or a dog).





I trained the palmatums to a uniform shape by moving their branches to fill in the gaps over a number of months, a bit at a time.



Likewise with this Sorbus we'd had for fifteen years, which had developed a forwards and sideways lean. It's as upright as it's possible to get it now.

 

Mine here grows in pretty much full sun and looks very similar to yours but it does have full wind protection with a hedge and tree either side. I think that will be a bigger problem for yours with the fence being removed.