Acer palmatum 'Baby Lace'

Here is a dwarf dissectum that is a very slow grower. The most noticeable characteristic is the very short petioles and internodal distance. The tree also maintains a nice variety of color in the foliage. Photos today 6/10/05.

 

This plant while still growing very slowly has some of the best color I have seen on any of my palmatums. It seems to show multiple colors in every season making for a great display in all season. Here is the first of the fall color taken 10/28/05.

 

very nice MJH.

Kent

 

Pictures taken mid December in Oregon. This is a good example of some of the benifits or drawbacks when using fertilizer and a greenhouse to grow dwarf maples.

 

Very true. Good for scion wood though.

 

My Baby Lace is fairly large and exhibits bright green new foliage against a rather dark purple/red older growth. The contrast is amazing.

 

I am also entrigued by the color combinations of this tree. It really stands out among the common red and green dissectums.

 

Seems to be a very unique dissectum...any more pictures? I want to get it! David

 

David, You should totally go get one. I just purchased a small graft, and the thing just amazes me.... it's definitely one of my favorite maples.

 

Oh yeah, Here's mine =]

 

Vertrees/Gregory say that "this highly desirable and interesting dwarf cultivar was the first dissectum witches'-broom to be discovered. It was found by Rick Rey of the Delaware Valley Agricultural School in the early 1980s and named by Edward Rodd of Raraflora Nursery, Kinterfield, PA." Good going! This is a sensational cultivar. This photo was taken 4/18/07.

 

Thanks guys...I'm definitely going to get this one ASAP. Pics are awesome!

David

 

Joemaples, where did you get your Baby Lace? I want to buy one really badly...but I don't know where to get it! Thanks. David

 

Baby Lace is a spectacular cultivar. Mine does not have the shortened spatulate middle lobe which is often the telltale sign of a witches broom. As I was told the story
by Ed Rodd (who found Skeeters Broom named cuz his nickname is Skeeter) Rick Rey
a Hopewell, NJ teacher found the broom but Joe Stupka and Ed Rodd took cuttings of
the broom and propagated them. The broom was small but very cascading inside a
cutleaf maple tree. Billy Schwartz named it Baby Lace for the smallness of the leaves which were the size of his thumnail. I love the delicacy and laciness of the leaves.

 

Do the 'Baby Lace' that everyone has (but me!) have thumbnail-sized foliage? Because from the pictures, they do not appear to have that small of a leaf size. Still, it is more foliage to display those beautiful and ever-changing colors.

I'm going to get one soon! David

 

The newer foliage is about the size of a normal dissectum, but with a very different form and coloration. Some of the newer foliage and the old foliage will eventually shrink down to a small size. Most of my smallest leaves are about an inch in diameter or so.

 

David,
I bought my baby lace from a little nursery around the corner from my house. They told me they purchased it from a wholesale nursery in Long Beach called Orange County Nursery. Although I checked their website and they no longer list baby lace.
But I was told by someone that there is a seller on Ebay that is selling baby lace grafts... although its like a 6 inch plant for 40 bucks and shipping. Not sure if it's a good deal because I got mine for 5 dollars :)

In terms of thumbnail sized leaves, I just had a spurt of growth from the leader, and the leaves are nice and tiny :)

But Katsura, I never knew the broom story :)

So this is what mine looks like just a few weeks after buying it =]

 

Joemaples, that's a very pretty tree (and an AWESOME bargain at that--5$?!?!?!?!?)

Well I found where to get Baby Lace--at Whitman Farms. I'm going to get it this summer and enjoy it all I can...and I will post pictures when I get it.

Does the nursery that you got your baby lace from have a website? If so, I think that I might want to order some maples from them...it looks as though they have pretty good prices! I like that, as anyone should. :)

So can you tell me about how big your leaves are? I think that along the line, I want to do a bonsai with Baby Lace. It looks like a good candidate.

David

 

Yeah, I thought $5 for the tree was an awesome deal.
Unfortunately the nursery I purchase from is a small family owned one, so they just go around purchasing from wherever they can and just sell here in San Diego. But they do have great deals. Out of the 23 trees I have (they're for the most part small grafts in pots) I've probably purchased 15 of those from them, and the most I've paid for one is 20, and that was a 4 year old Villa Taranto.

The biggest leaves on the tree are about 2-2.5 inches, whereas the newest growth (the first picture) range from less than an inch to a little over an inch. Yeah I think it would look really nice as a bonsai. I have a friend who is using Koto No Ito as a bonsai, and it looks amazing with the branch structure and the thin leaves. I think baby lace has the same potential of having that "silhouette" effect.

By the way, you see how there are pea pebbles in the pot of the second picture, just out of curiosity is there any negative effect on having stones like that on top of the soil? I just did that last week to all my maples, and I wasn't sure if it would have any ill effect on the tree or drainage or whatnot... maybe I should post a question in the main board :)

 

Hello Joemaples,
I think that Baby lace would probably be the best dissectum to bonsai, because it is naturally kind of dwarf. I only wish that down here in Louisiana we had nurseries selling rare varieties of Japanese maple for 5 dollars, though... :)

As for the pebbles, they should not have any negative effects on your trees. They will actually provide a little bit of protection from winter cold stuff and should actually help the soil stay cool...I think that I might do the same thing!

David

 

One more thing: it sounds as though the leaves of Baby Lace will get smaller as time goes on...and so that would be an added bonus to a bonsai of Baby Lace, since it is naturally a dwarf and the leaves are naturally small. Also, it is dense. I REALLY like this cultivar!

 

David, I agree. Baby lace does look like the best candidate for bonsai as a dissectum. I just went poking around the nursery in which I got my first baby lace, and to my surprise, I found 2 more hiding in the way, way back... which I took the opportunity to acquire them. :) So now I'm going to grow them and see which one has the best branching and structure for bonsai :)

I'll try to get some pictures of the 2 newly acquired ones... they're tiny like the first one I have, but look very nice, you'll love it when you get it :)

Johnny

 

Johnny, I'm VERY VERY jealous...I have a lot of trouble just finding a species japanese maple down here in the south....so I always have to order. :/

I guess that it is just the wrong climate to grow Japanese Maples--even though mine are perfectl healthy and very vigorous...maybe they are more widespread in the northern part of the continent!

Well good luck with the bonsai prospect(s)and I hope that you can post some pictures of the new "Babies" soon!

David

 

So here are the two baby laces that I bought last week... they're still tiny, but I'm hoping they recover from being smothered by bamboo plants... (that's where I found them, between a bunch of black bamboo)

MJH and Mapledia, how old are your baby laces? And what is the growth rate for them?

 

JoeMaples85: My 'Baby Lace' is about 5 years old now, and it stands about 2' high and 2'+ wide. It appears to be denser each year though it does receive pruning each winter. You will no doubt also enjoy this cultivar in the autumn: mine goes lime green, yellow, gold and red in the fall, so it's a great-looking plant throughout the growing season. My tree is located next to a waterfall/pond and resides in bright filtered light, and it's doing very well.
Mapledia