Acer buergerianum - private collection (seed grown). Photographs taken in March 2002, April 2002; and in August 2001, September 2001 when the tree had some variegation.
Acer buergerianum - October 14, 2005 - Jardin des plantes - Paris The leaves are still green but some more sun exposed branches give red leaves sooner. This tree was full of thousands of seeds.
Hi Laurie, I don't think yours is A. buergerianum - it has small basal lobes (making somewhat five-lobed leaves), serrated margins, and wide-spreading (over 50°) main lobes. True A. buergerianum is three-lobed with strongly forward-pointing lobes (hence the name 'Trident Maple'), and entire-margined. I guess it is a hybrid of some sort, if grown from arboretum-collected seed.
There is already a thread in the Maples forum where the variability of acer buergerianum is discussed. It would be interesting if people growing this acer post pictures to see how large is this variability. I wonder what is the true form of the leaves. http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=5257&highlight=buergerianum
It's just because it's a youngster, trident maple seedlings often look like that. Minimalist description of Acer buergerianum buergerianum in Maples for Gardens even includes a mention of this: "juvenile leaves often very different from adult leaves". Other popular genera (Phyllostachys, Rosa) produce rather monogamous-looking seedlings that differentiate with age as well.
From The US National Arboretum's Bonsai Collection; May 2007. First photo is from 1875 (skinnier trunk). Next, 1975 (much thicker trunk).
Those photo's are of different bonsai and neither was taken in 1875, they didn't have colour photography then.
@AlainK, a small one, but does size really matter ?? One of my favourites in my garden is Beni Hime, it is so small and do you know Alain, I am happy about that. Your Acer buergerianum Alain is so pretty. So much skill to create this. Watering must be every day this Summer with such a small pot ?
I moved this seedlings from full shade to this mostly sunny spot this spring. It went from 4ft to 8ft.
On all of mine (from different sources), they appear with reddish tones. I wanted to take a photo, but it's just started to rain...
24th June 2022 and my Acer buergerianum or Trident maple is doing quite nicely. The Summer foliage is very healthy and dark green now.
Probably one of the maples that will survive climate warming for a decade or so. Yours still is rather deeply divided and the lobes are quite serrated. The older they get, the more thee leaves look like "trident". Mine are in a warmer, drier environment, even for this one in almost full shade :
So I decided to cut this one back. Matter of fact, I did it twice this year. Some seedlings For grafting
One thing I have found with these, they seem to need the right amount of water. Too much, they struggle and lose branches. too little, they just quit, if they're too small anyway. I've lost two over the past several years that were planted in dry places, even though they were healthy 150s with lots of root. The wood is amazingly hard, and tough to cut with a pruning saw. But at the same time quite brittle, on the largest of ours, the top has broken a few times, with quite large branches. Not very flexible apparently. The other thing to appreciate about buergerianum is the bark. It's not for nothing that another common name of this maple is the "Dragon Bark Maple." Here are some photos of bark, firstly from the species, which is struggling with the drought; then the cultivar 'Hime kaede', known for it's bark, starting with the shot of the whole tree. 'Hime kaede' has been doing fine, without any water, during the drought. The species. 'Hime kaede' -E
Great photos. I'm surprised to see that on the "species", some leaves have no lobes. The bark is typical, but the leaves look a bit like Acer paxii, don't you think so ?
