I've just obtained several recent Japanese introductions. One of them is 'Yamato hagoromo', introduced by Ganshuku /Masayoshi in 1989, is a selection from 'Hagoromo' seedlings (have you guys ever seen seeds in your hagoromos???). It is slightly dwarf with short internodes. I am told that the leaves are flushed with red or brown in the spring, later turning deep green like ordinary 'hagoromos'. What caught my eye were the outstanding colors of the new summer growth, as shown in the pictures taken last week. I will post the spring growth next year. Regards, Gomero P.S.: What's wrong with the forum?, I cannot upload pictures.
In order to follow up this cultivar, here are some pics of the leaves this spring. They are all hagoromo-like with redish-brown tips and edges. No red leaves, as shown in the pics of last year for the summer new grwth. Gomero
Time for an update on this rather obscure cultivar which I have not seen it cultivated anywhere else. It has been growing happily in my garden all these years in half shade. I have never seen again the red leaves I mentioned in my first post, it was probably due to some kind of stress at the grower. On the other hand, and unexpectedly, I have discovered that it has a natural columnar habit as shown in the first picture taken today. The tree is now 3 meters high and has never been pruned, just staked since the trunk is kind of thin. It has been given the freedom to take its natural shape, no forming. The second pic gives a close-up of the leaves, fall colors are pretty much as for the normal 'hagoromo'. Gomero
Thats odd, all of the sessil type palmatums I have seen have had a darker fall color than that. In fact mine rarely show much orange, much less yellows or golds, just dark red to bright orange red. On a side note I have seen sessilifolium produce some seeds (some say it is the same as hagoromo, but I doubt they are identical). However, it seems to have an abundance of male pollen because I have collected seedlings from a bonfire and a seiryu near the tree that have this leaf type. They are quite interesting.
