With the early start to spring, my maple fever kicked in early this year, and I've already gone shopping twice. First time out, despite a promise to "only look around" I walked out with a Red Spider and an Atrolineare. Yesterday, I visited Del's Maples in Junction City, OR for the first time. It was a great experience. Del's is totally a family business, with alot of interesting cultivars available, including many that Del has introduced (both Acer palmatum and Acer circinnatum.) They have around 300 cultivars of maples for sale. I got a tour from Del's grandson John, who is helping run the business now, and met Del before I left. I bought ten maples, all liners and 1 gallon plants. I plan on returning in mid April to see some of the less common cultivars once they have leafed out and purchase some larger sizes. I'll likely buy quite a few 5 and 10 gallon trees from Del's soon. At Del's I got: Acer japonicum Abby's Weeping Acer palmatum Abigail Rose Amber Ghost Jerre Schwartz Kashima Koto maru Olsen's Frosted Strawberry Otome zakura Shojo no mai Ukigumo
well done, sasquatch. Del Loucks is one of the finest gentlemen in this business. He is 78 and has been doing maples for 60 years. I admire his ruthless honesty with the plants and registers new introductions properly before he sells them. He is a very honest grafter & businessman who has introduced many maples like Emerald Lace. I have been buying from Del for some years. His grandson John is a great addition who has added an email: delsjapanesemaples@hotmail.com
Here's my list so far... A.j. 'Dissectum' A.p. 'Filifera purpurea' A.p. 'Koto ito komachi' A.p. 'Scarlet Wonder' A.p. 'Ryu sen' A.p. 'Fjellheim' A.p. 'Will D' A.p. 'Birthday wishes' A.p. 'Green Mist' A.p. 'Dr. Brown' A.p. 'Pink Lace' A.p. 'Washi no o' A.p. 'Jewels' A.p. 'Shidiva Gold' A.p. 'Little Fingers' A.p. 'Musa Murazaki' A.s. 'Jordan'
kb, longipes ssp amplum 'Gold Coin' is really an outstanding maple during 3 seasons. Congratulations. Sadly I'm limiting purchases this spring to a few, but will be concentrating on getting some plants from pots into the ground. -E
yes i agree with emery good choise Gold coin i have one,beautiful yellow spring leaves.. i finish my garden space, sigh!!!and this spring only one ,pect. Alice
So...simply out of curiosity, do you guys all have huge properties to keep all of these maples? I know if you buy 1 or 2 gallon sizes, it will be quite a while until you'll need a larger dedicated space in your yard (unless you continue to put them in bigger and bigger containers). I'm also asking because my girlfriend bugs me every time I add to my collection, asking me where I'm going to plant all of these eventually. I'm looking for a good answer to that question, haha!
Heh heh! Ask her if she wants to share your agenda that getting a bigger house with a bigger yard. I have an acre yard for my 150 A. palmatum cultivars and I am still collecting. Good luck!
I lucked into 22 acres. That's certainly not typical. I know NJACER has 400 or so cultivars, many of them 10+ years old, on his 2 acre lot.
I was lucky enough to travel to Japan last November. The gardens there were absolutely spectacular! I am inspired to go "back to basics" and plant 8 generic acer palmatums....
My yard is barely over 1/4 acre, and I currently have 125 maples. I'd love more space, but I don't want to move. Maybe I can lease space in my neighbor's yard.
K4, I suppose if you have the same planting density as NJACER, you are on your way to 4000 maples! I have 3+ acres but get a ton of deer pressure, so have to be very methodical about protection as the plantings expand. I suspect that someday I will have 400 maples. Keith
now i have around 400, maples when my wife ask :alex another maple??:-( i reply: oh roby this is my last maple don't worry!.... ;-)
Keith, Well, the problem with my acreage is that is it dense hardwood forest, so before I can plant anything I have to play Paul Bunion and clear out enough growth that the maples will have a place to live and a little light. It can literally take years to get a bed ready. Plus I have to run water lines to the site because we get droughts in the summertime. So I really doubt I'll get to 4000. I can try, however! LOL! I have deer pressure too. I use repellents (have you tried Plantskyd?), and each November I have my annual Bambi-fest. I invite as many hunters as I know to come and shoot deer on my property during deer season. It doesn't eliminate them, but it does put a dent in their activities! :) Sasquatch, Don't lease space - your neighbor should pay you for beautifying his yard!
So for those of you with "smaller" yards, I assume you do mostly container gardening with maples? There is only so much space with morning sun/afternoon shade/dappled light/out of the wind/well draining/non clay soil/etc..etc...haha! I probably have about 100 square feet of that in my yard! I have a decent size lot, about 1/3 acre, and only 2 of my maples are in the ground. I still have some room for more in the landscape, but most of mine are 1-5 gallon. I'll worry about space in 5 years or so... Anyway, today I picked up: Hana Matoi Red Filigree Lace Green Filigree Maiku Jaku Kamagata I planned to get 3, but...you know...
Keith, With us both being in the Midwest, we probably have similar situations. Do the deer mostly nibble at them early in the spring or over winter? I don't have a "ton" of deer, but have noticed that early in spring when they're hungry and the sap is running and there is not much grass, etc., they will be looking. Then in winter if I don't wrap small maples, they will bite off the tips. I also had a Butterfly destroyed when they used it to rub their antlers. In the summer, though, they mostly go after other things. I do turn on a "howling coyote" CD at night, though. It kind of keeps them out of my yard, which is about 2 acres and surrounded on 3 sides by woods. Kay
Kaitain, I have hunters each fall too, but they only use bows and arrows. They rarely get a deer! With you being in Tenn., do you know Mary Chastain? She grows hostas mostly, but I understand she grows Japanese maples, too. I always wondered what the ratio was. If she just grows a few maples, or a lot. Of course, I realize Tenn is a big state and you may have never heard of her. Kay
This is a great thread, I can't seem to stop posting:) Sasquatch, I have heard so many rave about Olsen's Frosted Strawberry. What merits all the attention? Just curious, it may have to be on my spring list. Kay
Junction City, Oregon ... that's not too far. How's the drive to their property from I-5, is it paved most of the way? I usually pull a trailer, and might want to stop by on my way north or south along the interstate. Do they have 4" or 1 gallon sizes too?
There is pavement all the way to their driveway which is gravel, but flat and well maintained. It's a few minutes south of Junction City off of River Rd. If you're driving past Eugene, it's easy to take I-5 to Beltline Hwy to River Rd, and then head north on River Rd approx 5 miles to Heatheroak Rd. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...72,-123.152618&spn=0.234406,0.874786&t=h&z=11 The bulk of their plants are liners and 1 gallon trees. They also have 2 gal, 5 gal, and bigger, but their main business is small trees. Email for a current list of available plants. They were working on an update a few weeks ago, and should be done by now. Let us know what you purchase Sasquatch It is supposed to be a seedling of Aka shigitatsu sawa and looks similar to some of the Ghost series with bright pink spring growth. It hasn't opened up yet, but I'll post photos soon
My Olsens is just opening up. What I've noticed is the petioles on the leaves are very short. Almost looks like they are sprouting from the main branches themselves. Also, the leaf edges curl downward (so far), but maybe they will fully open and lay flatter once they've hardened off. Nothing spectacular with this cultivar yet, but it's my first spring with it, so I'll post a photo later if something noteworthy happens (which I am expecting!). I was steered toward this guy instead of a Shigitatsusawa...apparently it's somewhat similar in terms of appearance (though red/pink instead of green/pale green), and is more hardy than the Shigitatsusawa.
I took a few photos of one at Greer Gardens today. It was inside a Greenhouse, and fully leafed out. the colors were pretty great. Bright pink-red with the expected reticulation.
Here's a slideshow with photos of various maples at Greer gardens in Eugene, OR. I spent an hour in the greenhouses enjoying the maples while it rained outside, so I had time to take some good photos of the variety of smaller trees available from Greer's. They have alot more bigger trees available. I didn't write down the names for all the close ups, but if you want to know about any of them , I might be able to figure them out. http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/...Spring 2010/?action=view¤t=9bc36d29.pbw
Here are few of my new additions for this year. This one is a very old Ap Shishigashira mother tree from Klupenger's nursery. In the background on the leaf is an Ap 'Kagiri' nishiki' (all tided up) and next to it is an Ap 'Beni hoshi'.
Very nice, which variety is the one being unloaded? You are operating on a whole different scale to me, the only thing I've bought this year is a 50cm (20 inch) high by 30cm (12 inch) wide 'Kotohime', which I thought was a bargain for £15/$22/€17 from a local nursery, buds not open yet.