Acer palmatum 'Villa Taranto'

Discussion in 'Acer palmatum cultivars (photos)' started by mjh1676, Apr 21, 2005.

  1. mjh1676

    mjh1676 Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Named from the Villa Taranto in Italy, this linearlobum shows its uniqueness in the spring when its "orange crimson" or almost rose colored foliage lights up the landscape. A reddish overtone will deepen as spring progresses, but green will remain the predominant leaf color.

    The tree seems very hardy and displays mostly typical foliage with only occaissional reversons on vigorous chutes, less than displayed by some other linearlobums. It is best grown in moderate sun so that the reddish overtones will persist. If grown in shade, it quickly greens out and is indistinguishable from other green linearlobums.

    The first two photos are from 4/4 and4/6/05 with the emergent foliage showing a green undertone with the orange crimson highlights. In the second two photos 4/12 and then 4/19, the crimson has mostly overtaken the green to display the colors this tree is known for.
     

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  2. mjh1676

    mjh1676 Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Additional Photos

    Just a couple more as I couldn't resist.
    The first photo, an overview of the tree is from 4/12/05. The second is from 4/19/05 where the frist actual new growth is beginning to emerge on new or lengthening chutes. This has the strong green tones in the inner lobes.

    This is in its second season in the ground and is about 4 years old, although it suffered a severe setback about 2 years ago when over 1/2 of the canopy was lost. It has recovered beautifully. It recieves morning sun and the shade of the house and an Acer palmatum atropurpureum in the overstory.
    MJH
     

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  3. Hung Yue

    Hung Yue Member

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    I have saw the same cultivar sold in one of the nursery specialise maples and conifers. Have been told it is a rare species and was wondering if it is hard to maintain?
    I have planted Inaba Shidare and recently looking for a suitable tree to plant in my backyard (partly shaded with good morning sun).
     
  4. Keeb's

    Keeb's Active Member

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  5. jhayes5032

    jhayes5032 Active Member

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    this is a very unique JM in spring and difficult for photos to do it justice
     

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  6. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Here is mine this fall

    Regards

    Gomero
     

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  7. shiroi oni

    shiroi oni Active Member

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    I just picked this up at OSH, it was labeled Japanese Maple "Butterfly" on the OSH Barcode/Price tag, but on the tree itself it is labeled "Villa Taranto" from the Van Meter & Son Nursery. I'll trust the nursery label over OSH's any day..

    The tree iself was fairly well leafed out when purchased, very green. It has been getting full sun at its new residence, and the leaves have begun to get a bit of red coloration. I'll probably move the tree to a spot that gets great morning sun, then goes into shade for the rest of the day. I don't want to risk leaf burn.


    shiroi oni
     

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  8. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Wow, your 'Villa Taranto' looks quite different from mine. This is how it looks this spring.

    Gomero
     

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  9. shiroi oni

    shiroi oni Active Member

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    Gomero, MJH and others,

    My "Villa Taranto" colors are very different than what I have seen in the previous posts. As I said in my earlier post, this plant was very green when I bought it, not really knowing its previous growing conditions. Now that it has been freed from the sales block, and has taken up residence at my humble abode, this plant has been in 90% full sun all day long. Over the last two weeks or so, the leaf color has begun to redden out, as you can see in the photos on my previous post.

    what sun exposure are your plants getting, and is this a plant that likes sun or shade.

    thank you . . .

    shiroi oni
     
  10. mjh1676

    mjh1676 Active Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Actually, I though it looked a little more like this. I mine will not typically achieve the clean red you are seeing in Gomero's. In all of my original photos the palnt was in full exposure, but in these is in more filtered light but still some direct sun. I can post more from this year soon.
     

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  11. Gomero

    Gomero Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    Hi Shiroi oni

    Mine is in dappled shade under a (late leafing) oak. So for 1-2 months it is under full sun. The color fades into a brownish green in the summer.
    Regards,

    Gomero
     
  12. shiroi oni

    shiroi oni Active Member

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    Gomero... Thanks for the info. I've moved my "Villa Taranto" to a morning sun spot. The summers in Los Angeles are very dry and hot, I feel that full sun exposure would be a bit much for this delicate leafed specimen.

    I'll keep updating with photos as nature takes its course.


    shiroi oni
     
  13. mapleman77

    mapleman77 Active Member

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    Hi,
    Had a very bad experience with mine last year. Mine is a 2-year graft (this year) from worldplants.com and it almost died last year from some sort of a bug that attached itself to the stems, which were very small (it's only about 10 inches tall). However, it stayed with me and this year, as the buds are bursting, the tree looks like it's going to make up for the lost vigor last year! The buds are that "orange-crimson" color that is awesome, and I'm going to move it after the leaves stop changing color, to avoid leaf burn.

    Mine last year always had a little red in the leaf in the summer before losing all of its leaves in the fall. But of course this was a 1-year graft at that time, and it will change as it grows older; but hopefully it will change for the better!

    By the way, eastforknursery.com describes Villa Taranto as the "red and cream variagated form of Koto No Ito." Have any of you seen any variagation on your trees? I certainly haven't, but once again, mine's a first year graft.

    Regards,
    David
     
  14. mattlwfowler

    mattlwfowler Active Member Maple Society

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    I don't think that term variegated would be entirely accurate...perhaps she meant to imply that the tree has an odd combination of red and creamy colors. The best I can describe it would be that it should have pale reddish tones fading with green. However, the original tree probably looks quite different from the ones we see today. All I can say is that my tree shows mostly bronzy pinkish colors which fade to green, but the colors are difficult to describe.
     
  15. dawgie

    dawgie Active Member 10 Years

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    My Villa taranto looks very similar to the photos posted by mjh in the first two posts. It is a very unique JM. Mine was a first-year graft when I got it, and I grew it in a pot for about 2 years. I planted it in the ground last spring and it weathered a very hot, dry summer but didn't grow very much. I'm hoping the location where I put it is not too sunny, as it gets direct sun from about 10 am to 3 pm.
     
  16. mapleman77

    mapleman77 Active Member

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    Hey everyone,
    An update on my tree: Mine has fully leafed out, and is showing very slender leaves, with LOTS of the orange crimson color: some leaves have just a touch, while others are almost fully that color. It looks very good: it didn't grow "bigger," but really put out a nice show, much better than last year.

    David
     
  17. mapleman77

    mapleman77 Active Member

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    Here is a picture of my Villa Taranto taken May 15, 2008. It's looking good and it has water on the leaves from a very big storm, at the time the photo was taken. David
     

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  18. JoeMaple85

    JoeMaple85 Active Member

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    Here's my Villa Taranto... I just love the colors on it :-D
     

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  19. mapleman77

    mapleman77 Active Member

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    Hey Johnny!

    Yours looks a lot better than mine does--but it is also a LOT older. Mine is a 2 year that almost died last year--so it is not doing much. :)

    David
     
  20. JoeMaple85

    JoeMaple85 Active Member

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    Hey David,
    Surprisingly, mine is only 3 years old. I had some dieback the first year I had it, but it held up and recovered.

    I'm still trying to get a picture that will do this tree justice. For some odd reason, the lighting on that side of my porch makes the VT come out weird in pictures... I'll figure it out :)

    Johnny
     
  21. emery

    emery Renowned Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    I agree, this is a really hard plant to photograph: the pictures never seem to do it justice. When the sun shines on Villa Taranto it glows, with a red exterior contrasting beautifully with the green interior.

    Here are a couple of mine, the first from a few years ago, the second (branch) from this year. It had a mishap this winter, I hired a kid to strip ivy from the old walls in the background, he actually fell off the ladder and landed on VT. Luckily he was OK, but he did break a couple of branches on the tree. He was so worried about having damaged the maple he didn't even tell me about his fall, I only found out the next day watching how gingerly he moved. I couldn't bring myself to get mad at him.

    -E
     

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  22. mapleman77

    mapleman77 Active Member

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    I agree--I've never had really good pictures of VT either. It's just so much better to have it and see it in real life! Mine is a little ball of a linearilobum maple that has barely done anything--the picture that I posted above is the whole thing! Sad, huh?

    David
     
  23. MapleMadness

    MapleMadness Active Member

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    I agree Villa is one of the hardest to photo JMs. Mine is about 7-8 ft and receives about 2-3 hours of direct sun a day. It has some reversion on new vigorous growth but still very little in comparison to Red Pygmy.
     

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  24. mapleman77

    mapleman77 Active Member

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    Mine is very very small and I am trying to get some new growth on it, but I have not been successful. It is a small sphere of leaves and a thin understock. I think that it is on a weak understock and therefore it is not growing as well as I want it to.

    Any ideas on how to make it grow some more this year?

    David
     
  25. Kaitain4

    Kaitain4 Well-Known Member Maple Society 10 Years

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    What kind of potting mix do you use? I have one that I sort of make up myself that seems to work well. The first ingredient is really a nice potting soil mix called Pro-Mix Organic, which is all natural organic ingredients, micro-nutrients, etc; plus it has mychorrizal fungi in it, which has been proven to dramatically improve growth and nutrient absorption in plants. I use 2 parts of this, plus one part 'Miracle Grow' African Violet potting mix. It has more bark grinds in it, plus a little bit of fertilizer. By mixing just 1/3 of this in with the Pro-Mix, I get potting soil that seems to work extremely well with my maples. They all get a tiny boost of fertilizer for new growth, but not so much that it causes a problem. It holds moisture well without being soggy, which as you know is critical wih maples.

    Regards,

    K4
     

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