Someone did me a big favor today in this forum and now I will return the favor. Below are photos of Oregon Garnet. The photos were taken on May 19, 2005. Red Select was Don Kleim's Maple and Oregon Garnet is J.D. Vertrees' Maple. Both Maples along with Inaba shidare will look identical in leaf in the pubescent stage, even while the leaves are starting to open. In about a month later the series of color and leaf shape changes are seen within all three Maples. Of this series the Oregon Garnet has the largest sized leaves in width and in lobe length and also has the higher degree of different shaped leaves. Red Select has by far the smallest leaves in comparison with Inaba shidare the most uniform in leaf size & shape and leaf color. True form Garnet from Holland can have some lobes cut like some Oregon Garnet lobes but the Oregon Garnet has more distinct and more total colors seen in the leaves, whereas Garnet's coloring are more so blends. Also, true form Garnet leaves are about half the size in width and length of lobes as Oregon Garnet, really Garnet's leaves are about the same size as Red Select. The Oregon Garnet Maple has been sold as Ever Red off an on for a few years now due to the amount and color of the pubescence, not due to the colors, leaf sizes and shapes of the leaves once the Maples have leafed out.
The Oregon Garnet has been around but is seldom ever sold by the right name. The base leaf in color is the same as Red Select but the sizes and shapes of the leaves can be dramatically dissimilar between these two Maples. In many areas Inaba shidare will not green out like they will here. When we see the bronze red with the green undertones is when it will have the same basic leaf color of Red Select and Oregon Garnet. In the last few years I've seen Oregon Garnet sold as Inaba shidare and Garnet in mass merchandizer nurseries. If I see another one next year I will buy it and plant it in the misses yard. I've had my Oregon Garnet since 1987 and it has been in a container the whole time I've had it. One thing that is true for this Maple as well as for Inaba shidare and Takiniyama as well is that as the Maples get older no matter whether they are grown in the ground or in containers but not overly restrictive containers such as bonsai pots, the leaves will become larger in size. Tamukeyama, Red Select and Garnet will have their leaves become smaller in size as the plants age also, regardless of whether they are planted in the ground or grown in a container. Below is a regrettably out of focus Fall color photo of Red Select. Aside from the softer colors similar to the Fall colors that William Goddard's Ruby Lace gets for us here, we can see the typical purple red Fall colors that Red Select gets for us that is similar to the Fall colors that Inada shidare will get for us here but the purple red is more even in shading for Inaba shidare. The Oregon Garnet can also have this same Fall color depending on how much light the Maple gets during the Summer months. One thing for sure neither Inaba shidare and Red Select will have leaves the color of the leaf on the left of the first photo above. The outer parts of the tree can have many of these similar and darker and lighter shaded leaves but the typical color of the leaves are the ones on the right in the first photo. If we look at the photos in the Vertrees second edition book as well as the Vertrees/Gregory Japanese Maples books we can see the similarity of Garnet being more than similar in leaf shape and leaf size to what we, in the nursery where both of those plants resided in the photos, felt was Garnets green counterpart dissectum and to us it is Flavescens. There is not a lot of difference in these two Maples aside from leaf color. The one misnomer in a few of our books is that true form Garnet is a vigorous growing Maple. That notion is not even remotely true grown here, in most areas of Oregon or in Japan which is one reason why nurseries do not carry the true form any more as many of those plants have died out on us, even when planted in the ground. Inaba shidare and Oregon Garnet are much more vigorous growing plants in comparison and have been the substitute Maples in many nurseries for the true form Garnet for over 20 years that I am aware of. True form Garnet is real tough to grow as it does not like alkaline soils, heat, winds, over watering and even to a large extent fertilizing. The leaves can scorch even in 70 degree temperatures for us and each time the tree gets scorched we lose wood and the tree can scorch many times in a year. The scorching and the Tight Bark in the plant is what was the death knell for this Maple here on the West Coast. It is a real shame that this industry standard Maple is so tough to grow which is why we only seem to see it more often in afternoon protected settings in select collections any more. We still can find true form Garnet on the West Coast in some select wholesale nurseries as well as a few specialty nurseries but they have become scarce. You have to grow this Maple and probably lose one to begin to understand this Maple. Flavescens is no picnic either when grown here, if it was easy to grow in most locations everyone would have one! Jim
