Discovered by Karan Junker as a sport of Acer dissectum 'Nigrum Select. Looks almost like Hana Matoi but is a much smaller tree with richer and deeper red with pinkish variegation.
Very much like Hana Matoi, will be interesting to hear how strong a cultivar it is. Lovely shades @TY_jmple
I would assume it will be as strong as Nigrum since it's the same parentage. I would love to see the mother tree in Junker's nursery in Taunton which is not too far away from my place.
Absolutely. She tends to offer bigger trees as well, hence, won't likely be going. I can only afford small grafts. ☹️
Hello @TY_jmple , thanks for posting this. It does have a lot of similarities with HM, also perhaps Toyama nishiki. Veru pretty. I leafed past the name within the last couple of weeks, and remembered it. I'm working on a cultivar DB from some time ago, where, although Karan Junker is listed as the source for this cultivar, there's no other information. The parentage is great, but already 'Nigrum Select' (in passing I think this is an illegitimate cv name) has virtually no information, except that the information source is Junker. In fairness, I haven't yet tried cross referencing this one, so there may be more published in the literature. I have no dates for the origin of either of these maples. So, here's my plea! :) Can you tell me more about Pink Ballerina? or even Nigrum Select? In the long run I can touch base with Karan, but any quicker information you might be confident in would be really welcome. Thanks in advance, -Emery
Hi Emery. I am afraid I do not have much information about Pink Ballerina myself except those information in Junker's nursery website and MrMaple. I only have a small graft and it may take years to grow and observe. I guess 'Nigrum Select' could be a seedling from Dissectum Nigrum discovered or selected (hence the word 'Select') by Karan and subsequently a sport (variegated branch) was found on it and named Pink Ballerina.
