Hi again! 'Englishtown' is another JM I'd like to know about. Vertrees says it is a red dwarf originating from a witch's broom. Apparently, it looks like 'Shaina' except for it's columnar growth habit. A JM in slo-mo, this baby may reach 2 feet in 10 years. Wow. Are you growing this cultivar? Show and tell! PWEEZE! :) Thanks y'all!
spookie, my experience with 'Englishtown' confrims its columnar habit but it is 5 ft after some years. I have a friend who really knows maples who has an original Englishtown that he estimates is 8 ft H and 20ft wide after 20 years. In 20 years he has NEVER seen a spatulate, shortened middle lobe leaf on his tree nor have I sever seen 1 on my tree, and if you look at the photo for Englishtown in Peter Gregory's book, I see no spatulate center lobe as well so I have some question about whether Englishtown is a witches broom. My tree has TINY little new leaves which is a trait of witches brooms and the lower 1/2 of the tree is somewhat globular with tight noding which is also typical of WB's but the top 1/3 or so has less tight noding and is columnar. Now Skeeters Broom has that type of columnar more open growth so the top 1/3 or so type growth on my Englishtown does not disqualify it as a WB but its not having a spatulate center lobe makes me hesitant. I could have a mislabelled tree but my friend has 1 of the original grafts from the WB and as I said he has never seen a spatulate center lobe. WHAT ARE OTHERS' EXPERIENCE WITH THEIR 'ENGLISHTOWN'?
I have a small first year graft of this cultivar and it displays no "witches broom" shortened leaf lobes. I'll keep an eye on it, though..
Englishtown is the tree right in the front you. I have noticed upright column growth on my tree. Good Luck Krautz
krautz, lovely trees and presentation. How old would you say that Englishtown is? I'm beginning to believe Vertrees either did not have a correct Englishtown or he mixed up the description because 2 ft in 10 years does not match my tree and Vertrees said it was a witches broom.
I'd expect grafts of variant Japanese maples onto ordinary seedling rootstocks and other non-dwarf rootstocks would produce more vigorous specimens than the original dwarf seedling or witches'-broom, same as with dwarf and slow-growing conifer cultivars that don't conform to descriptions of original plants.
wouldn't the robustness-of-the-rootstock argument apply to other dwarfs & witches brooms and therefore change their described growth characteristics from the "normal" descriptions in the books? And even the rootstock argument does not affect the non-appearance of any spatulate middle lobe which Englishtown does not show and so it likely is not a WB.
I've seen huge A. palmatum 'Little Gem' displayed by retail outlets here. A nurserywoman explained on the internet (perhaps this site, I don't remember) that these were the result of grafting onto A. palmatum seedling rootstocks.
