Acer palmatum 'Kasagiyama'

I am a new member trying to figure out how to post my pictures of my many maples for others to see.I have 35 rare maples that i have been collecting for about 15 years.Please give me some advise on fill size of the photos etc.Here is one of my favorites 'Kasagiyama'

 

Acer palmatum 'Kasagi yama'

Here is a small graft that I did this winter/spring. Notice the broad leaves. I am sure that as this graft matures it's leaves will retain their typical form.

 

Re: Acer palmatum 'Kasagiyama'

I love the tree in spring. The summer and fall colors were not as dramatic.

 

I have about 80 JM cultivars and this may be my spring favorite

 

Another tree in the garden.

Mike

 

Beautiful in spring

 

One of the garden favorites, Kasagiyama turns a vivid brick red in the spring, unlike anything else in the maple garden. It holds color well in the spring, usually for at least 6 weeks.

 

I'm a relatively new collector myself, and I must say that most of these reticulated cultivars are among my favorites during spring as well. 'Tsuma gaki' may have a slight lead at the moment though.

 

Tsuma Gaki is a really reliable cultivar, I think. The nice palmate leaves edged in pink/red are lovely. As for the reticulated "ghost"-type plants, I'm sometimes confused with them and think the same plants may bear too many names. This year, for instance, one of my Kasagiyamas was indistinguishable from Amber Ghost. Go figure. Another Kasagiyama, however, put on the usual spring color of intense brick red, a color unlike anything else in the garden.

 

Kasagiyama this spring. It is definitely distinct from Olsen's frosted strawberry, Purple ghost, and the aka/beni shigitatsu sawa forms from what I've seen.

 

First year graft of 'Kasagiyama'. Never seen one quite like this before. What do you think?

 

Looks like a "ghost" :)

 

Ooops.....hope this one works....what do you think??? "Kasagiyama" or not??

Regards,
Cirque

 

Dear Cirque,
I've looked over my Kasagiyama photos throughout the growing season, and mine don't look anything like your plant. (But I do like the looks of your plant.) My Kasagiyama receives a lot of sunshine each day. Under what conditions do you grow your plant? Does it receive a lot of sunshine? Filtered light? Is it a young graft? The reason I ask these questions is that sometimes you just have to observe a plant for a few years to have it fulfill its potential and to make sure it's in the right location. E.g., my Iijima Sunago was totally green and uninteresting during its first year with me, but the second year was a total colorful explosion, and I was astounded that it was the same plant. Anyway, welcome to the UBC site.
Mapledia

 

I love look of your plant as well. What an interesting combination of colors!

 

Yah...this is a wonderful site. I've been looking on it the last few months but I finally decided to post. My 'Kasagi yama' is a first year graft...and i just picked it up not that long ago for cheap at a wonderful little nursery in the Mt Vernon, WA. I've had it in full sun...well as much as we get around here. I'm excited to see how it changes over the next few months...and years. At the same time I found this one, I found first year grafts of 'Iijima Sunago', 'Karasu gawa' and 'Villa Toranto'. Ok...I have a problem!! :-) They are addictive!!

-Cirque

 

To top it all off, my two new liners look nothing like any of your pictures. when they start growing again, I will post pictures of them to see if they show the characteristic brick-red "spring" color. I took off some leaves to encourage some new growth. Hopefully they will grow some more.

David

PS: Cirque, they are VERY addictive...I now have 18 maples, and 14 of them will have been bought this year!

 

Ok, mine are finally growing. It turns out that they DO have that wonderful opening color--and it is astounding. The leaves at first did not have the characteristic ruffly edges, but the new leaves are showing this trait--I wonder why the first set did not?

Anyways, here are some pictures. Wonderful cultivar and one of my favorite reticulates!

 

I had put Kasagiyama on my shortest short list but it got downgraded because I worried it might be too temperamental color wise for my overly shady open location. It's still on my very short list for when I open up more garden areas for maples. In the meantime here are a few pictures I snapped at a local nursery this June that show coloration in full PNW (Pacific Northwest) sun. In the third photo you can really see how the leaves getting direct sun are much different from those inside the tree getting shaded from the leaves above.

 

I think you are wise to wait until you have a sunny location for Kasagiyama. I have two of them: one in a hot and sunny location and another located in filtered light. It's obvious in my garden that this plant really prefers sunlight. Lots of it. The plant in sun has far more vivid color for an extended period of time (at least 4-6 weeks in spring) than the one in shade. I'm sure you will experience far more enjoyment from this marvelous plant once you have a location available that will suit it well. Be patient. It's worth waiting for.

 

OK, here is my Kasagiyama, the one in the sunny location. The first photo was taken 5/5/08 when we experienced an early spring with lots of warm weather, and you can see the leaves are already losing spring color; the second photo was taken 5/8/09 when we experienced as very late spring and thought the warm weather would never come; the third photo was taken 7/11/07 and shows typical summer color; and the fourth photo was taken 10/15/08 showing autumn color for a plant located in a very hot location receiving 4-6 hours of direct sunlight per day. You will note there is no leaf burn on this plant, though other cultivars cannot tolerate this hot location.

 

That's a great history mapledia. Thank you for sharing. Love the tree and it's definitely on my very shortest short list.

 

Winterhaven, if you have a good sunny spot for this cultivar, I'm sure you will enjoy it. The spring color (especially) is simply sublime. None of the photos adequately capture the intense brick red color in spring. It's unusual and quite worth acquiring. It's like no other red in my garden, to be sure, so it's rather unique. If you can get one, try it. Mine keeps its spring color for a long while and seems to love the sun. Even though it's in a hot and sunny location, it's never had leaf-burn or droopy leaves. I'm very pleased with it.

 

Hello mapledia, I really liked seeing the photos of your Kasagiyama AP. But now I'm confused about the great variance of summer leaf color between your photo taken on 7/11/07 and many photos from other sites which show the color as subdued bronze. If your color photo (combo of orange/yellow/red) is actually a correct summer leaf color then I'm dying to buy this beautiful tree. But if the color does actually go muddy or subdued bronze, I'm not so interested. My interest in Japanese Maples is primarily what the Summer leaf color is on each cultivar. The most intense sunshine and heat in my region is all July & August - 85F. to 95F. usually and sunshine every day with no or little rain in hardiness zone 5. And yes, I know Spring & Autumn colors can be spectactular and many people are interested in that too; me, not so much. Currently I have Bloodgood, Fireglow, Autumn Moon, & Peaches and Cream--I love the two middle ones a lot. I'm considering buying: Summer Gold, shirawasanum Jordon, Van den Akker, Mikazuki, Red Dragon, Purple Ghost, & maybe Red Blush IF I CAN ONLY FIND MAIL ORDER SOURCES FOR THESE; not much luck locating sources yet! I did locate nice size Purple Ghost's in Rochester if I decide to get that one; I also have to check out a JM nursery in nearby Marcellus, NY. I'd really appreciate any info/help that you or anyone else on the website can give me. Thanks a lot! grdnrman@aemail4u.com

 

Hello grdnrman, I rechecked the dates of the Kasagiyama photos posted above, and all are correct. You are right that the summer color for Kasagiyama is normally a rather dull reddish hue ... 2007 was, for some reason, a very strange year for my garden, producing striking and unusually vivid colors, and that sort of intense color was not apparent in 2008 nor in 2009. So I would say that the photo above taken in July is not a normal depiction of what this plant usually looks like. Finding unusual summer color is a challenge: in my garden, I enjoy Mikazuki, Ariadne and Olsen's Frosted Strawberry -- all for the interesting veining and generally pleasant appearance during summer months. You might consider Amber Ghost as well. Certainly a.s. Jordan and a.p. Summer Gold are worth getting, both hold color very well. It may take a while to find mail order sources for these plants, but go to their web sites and let them know what you're looking for. Often a grower can find a special plant for you if you're patient. You might also look at some of the growers located on the West Coast, since there are differences between what east coast and west coast nursery people carry as inventory. Happy growing.
Mapledia