Question
We live in Southern , MD.  We have a 25 year old Japenese red maple that is beautiful, until this summer.  ALL of the leaves have turned completely green.  Does the drought have anything to do with this or is it something else. Thanks, kswann

Answer
Japanese red Maple leaves turn from red to green when the intensity of light is decreased.


Most if not all varieties of red leaf plants lose the red color if the leaves are in a shaded area. This causes the new upper most leaves to become very red and the leaves that are shaded by other leaves to become green. Once these trees are given more space the red color comes back.

As the Fall approaches the leaves will turn from green back to red.

With all the grafts and selections of red maple and Japanese maple leaf color has been known to change with the seasons. The drought will also effect the color. This sounds normal to me.