Hi I'm new to the forum and just wondered if there is a term for the obsessive desire for more Japanese Maples? A Mapleholic? An Acerholic? I currently have over 60 and I simply cannot buy any more and yet...and yet.... I would dearly love to have a Purple Ghost but you cannot get them in the UK, only as seeds (and I'm not having any luck at all with that avenue) The next one I'm after getting is a Aoyagi....although like I said I'm not buying any more, no really, I shall just look to see if there are any on line but I won't hit the Buy Now button! Anyway I just wanted to introduce myself and to say I'm happy to be aboard. Alexis
If you try Pat and Lol at Hippopottering nursery in Lincolnshire (they have a website) they will fix you up with both these varieties no problem , all of my purple ghost's and one large Aoyagi came from this nursery also if you have a large M&S in Liverpool you might just want to have a look in there, i bought a lovely Aoyagi from one of the Leeds stores last year. Beware you will buy more and more and more !!!
Hi Alexis, and welcome to the forum! I think "hooked" is a pretty good description. My family puts up with me. :) I hadn't seen Aoyagi here in France but I actually have a little one now that I grafted at Dick van der Maat's grafting workshop in Boskoop. It's doing pretty well much to my amazement... One thing you might want to keep in mind about cultivars: if it comes from seed, it's not the cultivar itself. Japanese Maples don't come true from seed, although sometimes they come pretty close. So seed from 'Purple Ghost' may turn up some really excellent seedlings, or who knows, new cultivars! But you won't get a 'Purple Ghost' out of it. Cultivars can only be propagated by grafting or layering/rooting. Again, welcome! -Emery
Hi Guys. ROEBUK I did look at hippopottering nurseries a few days ago but didn't see a Purple Ghost, but now see what you've done! I shall just look...in case....it would be rude not to. And I never considered Marks and Spencer. Not just a maple, a M&S maple? I can almost hear Dervla Kirwan salivating from here. It will be of exceptional quality. I did actually buy a fabulous Shirasawanum 'Jordan' from Columbia Rd market when I was in London visiting my daughter. It sat on the seat next to me all the way back to Lime St! Now that was an exceptional plant and is turning in to a beauty. emery: I was aware of the seedling thing but was hoping that out of the 25 seeds stratifying maybe one will look like Maman! Is the Boskoop Glory (another one on my list) connected in anyway to the workshop? I am not yet at the grafting stage, I'm trying to get some germination going. Funny how I was always successful at school age 5, with the old egg boxes! Anyway thank you for your welcome. Most kind I'm going to list below some of the one's I own. I'm very fond of the green varieties and will be buying some more....no....I will not! Bloodgood, Trompenberg, Atropurpureum, Corallinum, Shindeshojo, Skeeters Broom, Orangeola, Orange Dream Shirasawanum, Suminigashi, Osakazuki, Katsura, Kashima, Going Green, Sangu Kaku, this is my list of desirables O'Kagami, Satsuka beni, Aoyagi, Shirazz, Orido Nishiki, Boskoop Glory, Beni Schichihenge, Attaryi, Inazuma and not forgetting Purple Ghost And then tonight I found Nuresagai. Then I'll be done!
Alexis, Welcome to the forum! I really haven't found a cultivar that I didn't like. Over the past two years I have 85 cultivars. If I could afford it I would buy everyone I see. Lately I have been stuck on dwarfs. Hupps Lima gold. Etc. I'm definitely a mapleholic. Pat
Thank you Pat! I feel a little better knowing I'm 20 odd behind you although it isn't helping my addiction problem at all. I'm sure I can stop at 85.....surely 85 is enough for anyone!
They are so versatile in the landscape that it's easy to own a lot of cultivars and none look exactly the same. I have almost 60 and will continue to purchase them as long as I have the space and budget.
As a non-native speaker, "Acermaniac" sounds good to my ear, and to me it seems to be the right term for someone who just can't help buying a cultivars he hasn't got yet whenever he goes to a garden centre. I'm thinking of having a maple leaf tatooed on my eyelids to show that when I go to sleep, I dream of maples, hu hu...
Oh Alain. I don't need that tattoo....there's always one popping up in my dreams! Acermaniac....I like where you're coming from. It denotes that mad gleam one gets in one's eye when you spot one that 'I haven't got!!!
Hi Alexis and welcome. They do become addictive and there's always room for one more. They are easy to keep to the shape and size you want. I have over 130 now. At the 80 plants stage I thought I'd now acquire as small plants and pass any on that I didn't like. No chance, they all have their own merits and none have been parted with. It's the same if I see a large cultivar with a great shape, just can't say no and somehow find room. It's an obsession and one I've never become tired of. John
Thank you for the welcome John! John[/QUOTE] I have over 130 now Is that said in a darts commentator voice? ' One hundred and thirty!! How many different varieties do you have? That is a collection and on that note, can you suggest any of the green ones that you like? I love the cool green varieties. I thought I was in trouble until I joined the site and now I know my efforts rate as feeble. To remedy this I have ordered another 3 this morning, Aoyagi, Satsuka Beni and O'Kagami. 'and pass any on that I didn't like. I don't understand this line John. Is it like an...oxymoron? I realise this forum will be a disaster for me and my burgeoning addiction. It's like having a drink issue and having a group of friends who include Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole et al. Cheers!
Good morning Alexis, and a warm welcome from me too, though I am myself pretty new here. When I moved from the UK to France I brought 69 A.palmatum cultivars and about 15 other species of Acer with me. I've sadly lost a few while the garden is under development (it was a cow pasture!), but numbers are slowly rising again. If you have the patience to raise tiny trees, Ebay can be a good source of interesting cultivars. Here in France rare trees tend to be sold in large sizes - one on my 'urgent' shopping list (A.palmatum 'Kurui jishi') turned up at a recent Plant Fair 4ft high, priced at 130 euros! Acermaniac, or enthusiast? - Depends who you ask....
'Tsuma gaki' is perhaps my favourite one... Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum', or 'Autumn Moon' display spectacular, almost fluorescent green at sunset in the spring, and wonderful fiery shades in autumn. Plus the less divided leaves make a nice contrast with A. p. cultivars like the lace-leaf red ones.
Alexis I wanted to answer the question about Boskoop Glory, had to wait to get back home to look in the "World Checklist." All they say is "Wright's Nursery" with no date, so maybe it didn't even come from the Netherlands... Wright doesn't sound like a Dutch name, anyway! ;) I hope you can find an 'Okagami', it's a wonderful JM. I just got one a tiny one after several years of looking. I had a quite large one, maybe 12 foot or more, but it succumbed suddenly to the wilt around 10-ish years ago. Anyway seeds are great fun, I have a bunch in trays and some still in the fridge (much to family's disgust!) -E
'Boskoop Glory' , if memory serves me, was named by Harold Greer of Greer Gardens, an Oregon US nursery. Maybe it went from Wright's to Greer's.
@emery.....I bought one yesterday! And yes my fridge is beginning to resemble the Quaitermass Experiment. I have also bought an Aoyagi and a Satsuka Beni, so I'm doing really well in my withdrawal from purchasing any more JM's... Lovely though you guys sound you have been zero help in my quest to curtail my passions! Alain K has now mentioned how beautiful Tsuma Gaki is so of course now I'm off to track one down. I buy a lot from a certain supplier on Ebay and although they are small, they are beautiful quality plus she seems to have a never ending list of cultivars. Oh and can I ask some advice? I have just purchased a new house so the garden will be transformed into a haven of Japanese beauty. The plants that will be planted in the ground are of varying sizes at the moment but in a few years they will have altered, so can anyone give me any idea of the final height in descending order? I once in another garden planted one in the wrong place (to the foreground) and it grew like crazy, swamped the rest and threw the whole effect out of balance. These are the one's going in. Ordinary Acer palmatum green, Shirasawanum Jordan, Going Green, Shindeshojo, Suminigashi and a Buergeranium (I know that's not really a JM but I think he should be at the back? This is the first house I have ever bought for myself (been in property developing) and it's going to be my home so I want to get it right. Any advice would be appreciated.
Alexis, it's a big nervous moment when your 'pets in pots' are entrusted to the ground for the first time. Ours is our first home we've bought as well, as we've always lived in 'official houses' before. You'll only be a real Acermaniac when you buy the house purely for the garden around it - and arrive for property viewings with a soil testing kit! PS Where on earth did you find A.p. 'Going Green'? I want one!
PS Where on earth did you find A.p. 'Going Green'? I want one![/QUOTE] And Chris you shall have one! For the princely sum of £6.99 excl. P&P I am sure they will ship to France. We're still in the EU after all. Free borders and all that malarkey. 1X ACER PALMATUM GOING GREEN PLANT - RARE JAPANESE MAPLE - P9
Look after yours - it's a PBR'd variety![/QUOTE] Say what now? At the risk of showing my lack of knowledge what's a PBR? And fear not. I never let anything stand in my way. Here has to be the answer to your quest Acer palmatum Acer palmatum going green ® variété protégée from Maillot-Erable - The store MAILLOT-ERABLE
PBR = Plant Breeders' Rights, a variety with a kind of copyright forbidding you to propagate it to sell. You can see that in the title of your link to MAILLOT, the 'r' and variété protégé (So you can propagate yours to swop with other enthusiasts - I'm sure I've got some variety you haven't got that we could exchange...? LOL) It's seven hours drive each way to go and see that nursery, so looks like a mail-order job. Thanks for the link!
You won't regret the Going Green Chris. When I opened up the box he was posted in and a flurry of vivid green leaves popped out, I nearly burst in to song. I see your French supplier is currently out of stock. Quelle horreur! Just telephone them and insist that they locate one for you...they have the contacts...that is your mission if you choose to accept it.
