Acer buergerianum ssp. formosanum. 'Miyadono' I have two ‘Miyadono’. The first was purchased from An online nursery in mid June 2022. When I received it, it was late at night and I couldn’t spend much time examining it. My initial impression was that it looked like any other standard species Acer buergerianum. The next morning I disappointedly went out to the garden to pot it and noticed that almost the entire tree was actually growth from the rootstock! The scion was only a 3” long twig with 4 tiny leaves on it. I reported this to the nursery and they agreed to send another specimen and advised me to clip off the suckers from the rootstock. I did this and reported my now tiny ‘Miyadono’ in a clay pot. 3 of the 4 leaves fell off within 2 days and 8 was left with only 1. I’m pleased to say that a month later, this little guy has flushed out over a dozen leaves and they appear to be growing vigorously. The 1 leftover leaf is still hanging on but did turn a bit brown. So far this appears somewhat similar to ‘Miyasama Yatsubusa’ though the leaves appear to have rounder lobes. I’ll be able to give you an update once the leaves harden off.
The “replacement” ‘Miyadono arrived at the beginning of July 2022, when the PNW weather started to heat up (finally). It arrived with completely dry soil though only half of the leaves were crispy. The very same day as arrival, I gave the rootball a good soak before attempting to transplant it. When I pulled it out of the pot, I discovered that the root ball was quite hydrophobic and was completely dry on the inside. It’s possible that this is why it dries out in transit. I performed a root wash and washed away most of the soil and planted it in a fast draining mix in a clay pot. I gave it a nice good soak to settle the soil and hydrate the roots. The tree lost every single leaf within 3 days. I decided to move the pot from deep shade to the dappled shade where my other ‘Miyadono’ was showing signs of recovery. It’s been 2 weeks and I have noticed some buds swelling so I am cautiously optimistic. I’m trying to temper my excitement because earlier this spring I had purchased two other buergerianum cultivars ‘Wako Nishiki’ and ‘Bling Bling’ that had received freeze damage in transit. Those specimens lost their leaves and each time they pushed new growth, it died back, until both just seemed to give up. So hopefully this one makes it through, unlike the others.
Here are my two ‘Miyadono’ handling the 37° C heat like a champ. I’m starting to really get my hopes up on the larger one now that the foliage is starting to grow.
Pictures from today. This one seems to be recovering from the dry roots and loss of all of its foliage. I only wish ‘Wako Nishiki’ and ‘Bling Bling’ had fared so well.
