Now all the trees are finally in full bloom just adding some pictures of some of the wonderful looking patterns and colours which are certainly catching my eye at present , liking these types of trees more and more every year now , so much to look at through out the season and such good growers as well !! Last picture is one of my Purple ghost's just starting to change into it's deep purple colours again this is quickly becoming one of my favourites in the garden.
A lovely collection of reticulates!..I still haven't worked out how to get them to keep the really jagged leaves they occasionally throw out.I wonder if it comes with age?
Hi Roebuk, very nice collection you have there. Are you planted these verticulated together in one area (with shade I hope) or spreaded/mixed them with other JMs?. Thanks.
Houzi.. What i find is that if i plant out the reticulates they will then start to form the jagged edges more than if they were in containers given a period of around two years in the ground. Picture one is of my first Amber ghost which i bought as a young gratf in 2013 from the girls at Hippo, but this is the tree in 2014 still in it's pot and well that could be anything just looks like any red palmatum? Pictures two and three are the same tree this week and you can see it's starting to take on the leaf appearence you talk about, this was planted out in the fall of 2014 so it doesn't take long for them to bed down and take form. Also find pics of my other Amber ghost again bought from the girls last year (July) this was then repotted from a 5ltr into a 7.5ltr pot and removed from it's coir and perlite growing medium into the one which i have all my trees growing in, big change in colour and size in ten months plus this will also be planted out this year as will all the others in the last pic , more reticulates Purple,Uncle,Grandma ghosts then Sawa chidori , another Olsens frosted and a new one for me ' Tiger rose ' Have already planned a new area in the garden for these to go but a couple of large Acers will be have to be lifted for them to take there place (more digging) as i said i am liking these cultivars more and more.
Thanks Atapi they are all either at the back of the house which gets very little sun, or at the side of my workshop again very well shaded and all are thriving very well at the moment.Tend to have them mixed in with other cultivars though so that they can play off each other regards to colours.More interesting to look at i find.
That's quite a difference in your Amber Ghost Roebuk.Interesting...I had a feeling it was vigour influenced but seeing as your's usually grow quicker inground kinda rules out that theory.Could it just be amount of light? I notice your Amber Ghost used to be very red,was it in more sun then?
Houzi.. Amber ghost has been in the same spot with most of my other young grafts which are all doing great at present, definately a light and shade scenario here with these young plants, have Purple ghosts, Amagi shigures,Ukigumo , katsura ,Oregon sunset and Hessei growing down here. They recieve no over head light till 13.00 then only for 1 +hour, then they get the filtered light through the fence from 18.00 onwards till dusk (only if it's sunny ) remember wer up't north lad :)
Geesh! that's no sun at all..wonder why your AG was so red? Sorry about the quips about weather.I thought only the extreme east was affected by these horrible North winds.They even ripped most of the branches of my Buddleia.My maples are set up to be protected from our normal(?) SW winds...didn't expect this in June.
Well everybody's trees should be in full kilter now, a few more pictures of some of the large leafed cultivars at present.
Sorry never noticed no names !!! #41 SA ' Golden full moon' #09 Ki Hachijo #07 Tsuri Nishiki #02 SA 'Autumn moon' #21 Golden pond #27 Kamagata #31 Hessei #37 Peaches and cream #39 Mirte The Shirasawanum's are in lovely colours this year since i moved them all to shadier spots.
Been awfully quiet here lately.. Lovely as always Roebuk,the Shirasas are beautiful.My Aureum used to always look more like Autumn moon on top where it caught the sun but last year it decided to completely shut down the 'sun damaged' branches.I've always had issues with it shutting down shaded branches,now this....think I've now lost it completely :( Well couldn't achieve any change in Momoiro Koyasan despite giving it as much sun as I can.However doing the same with Phoenix(1) had produced a nice pink plant(though fading at the moment)...we've had so little sun and horrible amounts of rain,maybe you too.As expected Summer Gold(2) is now turning back to green but strangely also red at the edges despite the sun going into hiding.Shirazz(3)is very pink this year,more like it's parent ha....not a lot of colour here presently. Hmm why do some pics get rotated?
Very quiet indeed? Any way shame about your Shirasawanum ,the best thing i did last year was move all mine ,the colours are beautiful this year never seen them all come out the same like this year. Think i have just managed to get the right balance of shade/light which they prefer. Your Phoenix looks well nice pastel colours there, my Momoira's are just plodding along nicely as well. Agree with the comment re the weather it's so windy in the north at present and has been like this for many a week now, and the rain just keeps coming and coming it never stops!! Interesting what you say about your Summer gold yes this does need the sun to make it stand out and show it's wonderful colours, we actually had some sun this morning so took a couple of pics of mine, still tend to keep mine in a shady spot though, this is going in the ground later this year so i can get more growth from it , tend to keep mine next to a red coloured tree so it stands out more. We seem to be having more or less the same horrible weather conditions as per last year, can't see it getting any better in the foreseable coming weeks , but you never know!! so you are not alone Houzi with regards the weather :( Few more pics of the reticulates which i find very interesting at present, and a few more larger leafed trees which are all progressing nicely.
What great reading and lovely photographs to look at on so many different Japanese Maples in this post by everyone who contributed, thankyou. Roebuk, I particularly like the look of your Ariadne and Purple Ghost, their colours stand out for me, I can imagine them as larger trees that will totally stand out from everything else.
Hi Afterglow,always nice to see another member join :) All my maples and other plants have large sandy dead patches on the leaves now,guessing the weather's helped some sort of fungus spread. Your Olsen's looking good Roebuk,like that one.I won't hold you to it but now you've had them a while,which is your favourite of the purple/red reticulates?(if indeed you have one)
Hi Houzi, thankyou, I've stopped by from time to time in the past and enjoyed some of the posts, so decided to join, all the best.
Houzi...Can easily answer that one Purple ghost !! This cultivar just performs better every year now with regards to growth and colours, have two both the same size and one smaller one which i just planted out today, take a couple of years in the ground before you start to see them perform how they should, but worth the wait in the long run. First pic is from the back end of May when it shows the strong red leaf colour with good veining defintion , and pic two is from today and you can clearly see it's starting to live up to it's name ' Purple' ghost will be a far more deeper purple colour in about the 2nd week of July onwards then they do look very pretty. All the others have their own special traits through out the year , my Kasagi yama is looking very good at present as are all the Olsens and Amagi's every body is showing good reticulation and colours despite the weather , another windy day today but we also had some nice sun for a change!! The sandy patches on your plants sounds depressing for you hopefully these will not be to threatning for your plants and they will recover. Mark
Wow,didn't expect such a quick&easy decision Roebuk,the differences must be quite profound for you.I remember Talon blogging that though he admits Amagi is a more colourful plant,his is a much stronger and reliable grower.....that can make all the difference sometimes.(noticed now you mentioned 'Marlo' it seems to have disappeared round my way)It's too early for me to judge Amagi as I killed my first one a couple of years ago and have only got these 2months ago. At last,a couple of days without rain,infact it's been a very nice day today...yet again I've just returned to work after a week off ha.
Houzi.. Interesting you say that Talon say's that he finds the Amagis to be a stronger and reliable grower , can actually agree and show this in action so to speak. The pictures are of one of the first Amagi grafts i bought in 2013 which was planted straight out i might say , usually i leave them for a year before they go out but was in a such a rush to see how they develop!! Pic 1 May 2014 made it through the winter ok but looks as though it could be any red cultivar , then in the early fall of 2014 i stood on it and broke of one of the only two branches (the air was blue that day) thought it looked horrible but knew it would be hard to replace so i just left it alone and hoped it might recover some what. Pic 2 April 2015 as you can see the broken branch now as a new growth just to the side of the break, continued just to let it grow and see how it developed and to my amazement it put on a good 10cm of new growth during the season. Pic 3 Same tree March 2016 this was lifted in the fall of 2015 to a more shadier spot at the end of the garden and was also enclosed with a ring of mesh, not to deter vermin but to stop me from standing on the thing again, have three various cultivars here all with the same protection. I tend to leave all the fall leaves on the ground to act as a natural mulch for the following years, works very well but you can't see the young grafts because they are so well concealed in the mulch. Pic 4 Tree today with a good 20cm growth plus good secondry branch growth, notice the difference in the girth of both branches as well , then finally pic 5 above shot showing the overall growth and colour change in just over 16 months since i damaged the tree , you can hardly tell of this trees damage and it's rapid recovery. Have found that all the ghost's and various other reticulates do grow exceptionaly well when planted out. Good day forecasted for tomorrow so looks like a few more will be going in the ground :)
Great stuff Roebuk,success again.Sometimes it's easy to assume that more sun must equal more growth( more energy being converted) but I often wonder if plants can hold back growth 'fearing' damage in more extreme conditions though I know they've got no brains ha ha. Sorry, when I mentioned Talon's plant,he was talking about Purple Ghost being the stronger of the two which you seem to agree with :)
