Cheering ourselves up with Maples

Hi vbx, I think it's like anything regarding plants tbh. We have seen many times when someone buys a plant and then falls in love with the type, then a few years later they have the national collection. Japanese Maples are addictive because they offer so much all year round. The species type are also many and varied and easy to become addicted to.
I have 150 Acers collected over 42 years and that is a 'very small' number compared to a lot of collectors. It is a wonderful hobby no matter how many you have.

 

Yeah, I started with the bloodgood and slowly kept adding.

When my parents visit however, they look at it and call it "useless trees". lol

Their yards covered in Fruit trees.

You have 150 acers? You have your own Nursery!

 

Hi vbx, trees that have blossom and provide food, they do have a point tbh. You could always add a fruit tree to provide shade for your maples!!!

 

I have lots of fruit trees too. Waiting for the kumquats to bear fruit for my tea shop!

 

Well I think I posted a picture of A. opalus ssp opalus early in this thread!! :) But this was one of the trees that froze, so I didn't really take any more pics of it. Here also is a couple of A. opalus ssp obtusatum, which leafs out practically a month later. Here also is another A. palmatum I always enjoy.

@Actrõn what is the provenance of the A. heldreichii seed? Is it wild collected?

 

Hi emery, you say that the opalus froze, can I ask what it did to the tree, ie were the buds stunted or burned completely ? Also is the new leaves in your photo from new buds?

 

The first photo is from before the freeze, the others are ssp obtusatum which just leafed out a couple of days ago.

ssp opalus is pretty tough, so the flowers fell off and maybe 2/3 of the leaves shriveled. Otherwise it just limped along, probably wont put on much growth until the second flush. There are probably some branches that have back-budded, but haven't really looked closely. Since it's well established I just let it get on with business! :)

 

Hi emery thanks for that, it's just that I have a few that were hit quite badly from the frost a couple of weeks ago and are only showing brown withered buds now. Not had it this bad before tbh. More fleece required I think. Hope yours recovers well also.

 

I'm also a guitarist and there's a condition we have called GAS. It stands for Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. No matter how many you have, you always need just one more!

JM's are like that. When I was first introduced to them I was amazed at the vast variety of colors and shapes and leaf types available. Plus they change all year long. My collection started in the fall of 2016 and I "only" have 30 right now with one on order. And that's not counting the 7 that didn't make it.

 

Hi dangerine49, I think we all have GAS of maples then. So 30 in four years eh!, as I said earlier mine is 150 in 42 years. On that basis you will have over 300 ++ eventually lol. But what a wonderful collection you will have.

 

Glad you received your order, all my hanging basket and trailing flowers are due for delivery at the back end next week , ordered in January mind you it's a very reputable firm so not to worried , just been outside to lock everything up and it's so cold again !!

 

Luke do you spike your pots down for when it gets windy???

 

Ha, I wish I had the room for that many.

 

Hi ROEBUK, it's great when our plants start to come through, I've just had an email from Hippopotering to say my order will be with me on Thursday. Getting Baldsmith as a replacement and Baby Ghost. Cant wait!!!
And yes it's cold here too 'darned April'. Glad we have all these photos from everywhere though. I'm amazed at the photography!!!

 

Well they will usually come back at least once. There are emergency or adventitious buds which form down the stem -- back-budding -- and these then take over the growth. Happily enough they take a while to come in, sometimes up to 6 weeks, because there's only one set. If these freeze too, the maple is dead.

Sounds like you really got nailed, our freeze was more hit and miss. Maples like opalus are OK down to -1.5-ish, so the air probably really only got colder in a certain layer. Most palmatums will take a little frost too, but a hard freeze really does for them. I have a pitiful A. serrulatum, which is a sort of Taiwanese relation of the Japanese maple. It leafs out in March every year, and freezes reliably. Looks pretty bad.

 

Hi emery, fingers crossed for June then!!!!!! If not then a couple of maple nurseries will benefit from my custom lol.

 

@emery the A. heldreichii is from Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid. I don't know what subspecies is...

 

a wet contribution for today

'Beni Otake'

 

Hi wind-borne, IMO that's the best picture of Beni Otaki I've seen. You have an artistic touch with the camera. Thankyou for sharing these.

 

Hi Roebuk. No I don’t, yet. Last week or the week before we had a couple of windy days and nights though and a couple kept blowing over. I have looked at your setup and I’m trying to come up with something similar.

 

Great shots. Well done.

 

Roebuk, your collection is incredible. Amazing pictures your have posted. I just love Baldsmith. Acerholic must be excited about receiving his?!

 

Good morning everyone, here is my Butterfly in the rain, or as our grandchildren call it 'Bart'. My wife and I started this fun project on this one about 5 years ago.

 

Hi Luke, tomorrow as yours will probably be, fingers crossed. Look forward to seeing photos.

 

A DHL van just pulled away from my house...

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