Hi, just joined and posting my acer photos

Discussion in 'Maples' started by Acermad, Jul 26, 2009.

  1. Acermad

    Acermad Member

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    Hi,
    I'm new to the site and thought I would post some photos of my garden. The first one is of a pretty mature Orangeola (30+years old) taken in late September and the second shows it 2 weeks later. Surprisingly its about 3m wide by 2m high, which is the opposite of what most books tell you (taller than wide). Its girth is about 40cm. The last one is a 50yr plus acer that forms the centre piece of one side of the garden (taken early Nov). Still trying to find out what it is and also what its neighbour to the right is. Its trunk is 140cm girth and its 7m wide by about 4m high. A truly magnificent specimen, which looks amazing even leafless in winter. Oh and its still growing!

    Andrew
     

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  2. chimera

    chimera Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Welcome to the forums Acermad. Beautiful, and interesting to see photos of older trees, looking forward to more, thank you.
     
  3. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Hi Andrew,

    Welcome to the forum. Nice garden!
    I am puzzled when you say the first tree is a 30+ years old 'Orangeola'. In 'Maples for Gardens', van Gelderen says that 'Orangeola' was introduced in 1988, while in 'Japanese Maples' Vertrees/Gragory say it was introduced in the eighties.

    Gomero
     
  4. Acermad

    Acermad Member

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    Mmm that's interesting. Maybe its only 20+ years old then (30+ was a guess on my behalf). I will contact the previous owner and try and find out when he planted it. It must be one of the oldest Orangeola's in existence then!
     
  5. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Also, keep in mind that it was introduced in the U.S., thus you should allow a few years before the cultivar would be grown and sold in Europe ('Orangeola' was given an 'Award of Merit' by the Royal Boskoop Horticultural Society in 1996).

    http://ganshuku.cool.ne.jp/23_3orangeola.html
    Gomero
     
  6. kaspian

    kaspian Active Member 10 Years

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    Absolutely beautiful photographs -- you certainly have an enviable garden!

    Looking at these pictures, and thinking about my own garden, I'm reminded of a remark by the late Henry Mitchell, longtime garden writer for the Washington Post, to the effect that a garden only really comes into its own about a decade after the gardener is dead.
     
  7. Acermad

    Acermad Member

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    Can confirm that the original gardener has passed away over 10 years ago. Think he started things in the 50's but the previous owner (his grandson) sold the place to me early in 2008. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it in its September glory and had moved in by end January. He hadn't really looked after it that much so I've been trying to get it back to its former glory but to be honest the trees pretty much take care of themselves - its more the rockeries between the trees that need filling and some ground cover under some of the trees. Reckon its a 10 year project to get it to where I'll be happy.
     
  8. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Hi, very nice garden by the way. Probably the best book on Japanese maples (if you do not have it already) is "Japanese Maples" by Vertrees/Gregory. The fourth edition was supposed to be published on 15th July this year, but that date has passed without my pre-order being fulfilled, and contact with my supplier indicates a possible October release. Maybe they are clearing inventory of the third edition before they release the fourth.

    If you are rich you might also want to consider "Book for Maples" by Masayoshi Yano, the best price I have seen is 80 euros from Maillot.

    The best online resources for Japanese maple pictures are probably the Acer palmatum cultivars subforum here at UBC and the Japanese sites ganshuku and e-momiji, here are the babelfish translations: ganshuku and e-momiji

    Hope that is some help, and did I say already that you have a nice garden! Hope you can identify those 50yr old acers.

    maf
     
  9. Acermad

    Acermad Member

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    thank you for all your kind comments. I do have a copy of Vertrees 3rd edition but its not always easy to tell the full leaf detail and many are so similar. Also he doesn't have photos of the different seasons for each plant so you cant check like for like i.e. summer leaf to summer leaf. You might end up checking a summer leaf colour to a photo he has of autumn colour. Oh well, I'll keep searching. Thanks again.
     
  10. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Nice pics!!!become a member of The Maple Society!
    ciao
     
  11. winterhaven

    winterhaven Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Acermad, I too, would like to say, "Wow!"

    Regarding trying to figure out what you have, my recommendation is the following:

    1st: observe the trees and keep good notes for a full year. Take close up photos of how the leaves emerge, attach to the limbs, front and backs of leaves for all seasons and also photograph the flowers as they emerge and the seeds as they mature. Don't forget to photograph the bark as well.

    2nd: start paging through books and seeing what trees are likely suspects.

    3rd: then you can post the photos and your thoughts and others will chime in with their thoughts.

    Good luck!

    Knowing the original gardener died makes me sad, and is comforting at the same time in that I hope my "work" in the garden will carry on into the future. I like the idea of creating a connection to the future every time I plant a beautiful long lived tree.
     
  12. Acermad

    Acermad Member

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    Oh dear. I spoke to the previous owner and he told me the two acers (left most in the photo i.e. the cascading ones) were planted when the garden was originally designed in the late 40's early 50's, so that makes them both over 50 years old. So what I thought was Orangeola is most definately not Orangeola. How frustrating and yet fascinating at the same time - a 50+yr old acer that is only 2m high.
     
  13. maf

    maf Generous Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    Fantastic! I'd rather have a 60 year old dissectum in my garden than an Orangeola any day of the week.
     
  14. Acermad

    Acermad Member

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    The one I thought was Orangeola has the following leaf shape.

    oh and the length is just under 8cm.
     

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  15. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    The point is that you probably do not know whether it is a named cultivar or a seedling.
    In the assumption it is a named cultivar, the identification could well be envisaged since the number of dissectum cultivars available in the trade at the time it was planted was reasonable. Use any of the maple books and list all the dissectum cultivars available before 1950, then comparre with yours.
    In all cases I would just sit back and enjoy.

    Gomero
     

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