Can anyone tell me if Acer palmatum 'Shojo' is the same as Acer palmatum 'Shojo-nomura' ? On http://www.plantago.nl/plantindex/plants/a/Acer/Acer_p.htm they are listed as 2 diffrent varieties. If they are different what are the diffrent caracteristics. I'm currently growing Acer palmatum 'Shojo' (I think, I bought the grafted liner as Acer palmatum 'Shojo') and it is a very fast Vase shaped maple that hold its color very well in full sun. This picture was taken September 25, 2008 in BC, Canada
For some of us oldtimers to help Id a Maple it may be prudent to tell who your plant came from and to whom your source got their plant. I looked at the link you showed and was immediately turned off by the spellings of several Maples. I do not appreciate it one bit to see Maples that came from people around where I am with changed or hyphenated spellings. Those were not the spellings those plants had when they were sent or came into Europe. I do respect the rest of the work done in the link otherwise. To my knowledge the only old form plant to have a hyphen was 'Roseo-marginatum' which was an English selection for a three color variegated dissectum. I believe there is a photo of that old Maple in this forum but it is not listed by the above name. I was very pleased to see that the Maple is still around in England, even if no one knows what it is being called now or what it was years ago. In your case your Maple is not a 'Shojo', nor it is a 'Shojo nomura'. The Maple to the right in the background is closer to being a 'Nomura' however but the photo of the large Maple shown is not a 'Nomura' either. There is a selected form of 'Nomura that may just fit here and it is 'Nomura nishiki'. (Nishiki means brocade not does not mean variegated as stated elsewhere in this forum. Nishiki refers to the much more compact growth habit. The Nishiki name used to be used a lot for semi-dwarf Maples. By the way the 'Brocade' red dissectum is not considered a variegated Maple to most people). It is the Spring color of the Shojo group of reds that separates them out from all of the other reds with the true form Shojo group members having a black red with the contrast of an almost luminescent green to yellow green veining and midrib to the lobes. The later Spring grown can be a red red in some plants. The Summer growth is always a red red however but we never see a bronze red to the leaves from the old form plants at any time of the year. All Nomura group of reds have one thing in common and that is when they leaf out in the Spring they will be a red on red variegate but it will probably require someone that has seen it to show you where the variegation is on the lobes. Look at the photos of the 'Fujinami nishiki' in this forum and you can see the attributes of both the Shojo black red coloring as well as the 'Shojo nomura' purple red on the same leaf. If you look at the link below on this page to 'Shojo shidare' you will not see a single plant with the right coloring for that Maple. Had those Maples been grafted over time on red seedling rootstock they may have stayed the right color but now what was a black red Maple is now a Nigrum colored form plant by those photos. The Maple as shown by mjh1676 is the Nigrum group red form of 'Shojo shidare' however. I personally like the Nigrum form plant better for Shojo shidare and the reason why other than the Maple is a sturdier plant of the two and grows better here, is that the Nigrum form will hold its color better and longer during the growing season and will not green out (have all of the older leaves turn to green in this case) nearly as soon or go green at all in some locations as the old black red form of Shojo shidare will for us here. Jim
Mr. Shep I greatly appreciate your reply to my dilemma. I chose the mentioned web site for what I thought was its accurate spelling. A site that puts so much time and effort into its set up surely would also spend a lot of time in researching the correct spelling….. Originally I used Esveld’s web site (http://www.esveld.nl/catalen/heestersa.htm) for spelling and as you mentioned they do not use hyphen’s. The Acer in the picture was purchased from a local nursery. I do not graft my own but rely on other nurseries for purchasing grafted liners to grow on. I have since changed to an Oregon grower for my liners. I have purchased ‘Shojo’ from him as well. Although they are not as big yet, they do show the same characteristics. I will take some detailed pictures of the leaves to compare. The picture on the right in the background is ‘Fireglow’ although now I’m not sure anymore. I do prune my Acers heavy in winter to create a specimen plant, and the ‘Fireglow’ seems a lot slower then the other varieties. Both Maples in the picture are the same age.