Acer pictum f. ambiguum Hoshi yadori (1882) UWBG Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle; accession 1966. The propagation of this cultivar is difficult. The variegation pattern is slightly variable depending on the individuals. The yellow color in leaf variegation is also variable, deep or pale. In spring, the leaf color is red-brown, turning yellow in autumn. Yano, M. Book for Maples (Japan Maple Publishing Group 2003).
Thanks for the post. I have put photos of my Hoshi yadori unfolding this spring. More pictures still on the camera, and I'll take more as the season progresses. Unfortunately the plant was slightly damaged in our recent gales, but in general the young leaves held up quite well. The buds are a lovely bright crimson red before unfoldling. Sadly my bud pictures are out of focus so I did not include them here. I'll try again next year. When the leaves have unfolded a bit they turn from red to a very clear cream before showing any signs of variegation. Why f. ambiguum? regards, -E
[FONT="]Piet de Jong, in Proceedings of the International Maple Symposium 2002, last reported that Acer pictum has 11 subspecies. Aside from A. pictum ssp. okamotoanum, they are native to Japan. Other authors list many more subspecies, varieties and forms. Personally I find this species quite confusing; it is one of 13 listed in Section Platanoidea. ‘Hoshi yadori’ has long been known as a cultivar of Acer mono, which is now known as Acer pictum, but I wondered what the subspecies was. There is so little information available about it in English, so I relied on the work of Mr. Yano and others in Japan, who have reported that it is a cultivar of A. pictum f. ambiguum. See: http://ganshuku.cool.ne.jp/23_1hoshiyadori.html. [/FONT]
Yes, this is a fascinating species, and quite confusing. The main distinguishing feature of f. amiguum seems to be rough bark quite unlike the normal smooth bark of pictum subsp pictum. My example of Hoshi yadori has smooth bark like the species, which is why I asked the question. Unless this is a feature which will disappear with age, I doubt it could be f. ambiguum. Unfortunately I don't read japanese so even if my browser correctly rendered the text in your link, I'd be unable to interpret it. regards, -E
Here are some pics of my 'Hoshi yadori' taken during April 2007. It comes from a wholesale grower in New Jersey. It is in a large pot in dappled shade. Gomero
My Hoshi Yadori in the snow. Purchased and planted in September 2021 and picture taken December 2021. I only was able to enjoy the variegated foliage for 2 months before it dropped off.
Well, how about pruning 'Hoshi 'Yadori'? Unfortunately, as this maple gets big, many branches lose the variegation. Sometimes! According to a friend who has two large ones, one has remained variegated, the other not at all. Our plant lost quite a lot of vareigation, so 2 years ago (?) I decided to start the chop. This year I went through and marked the branches with variegation (aside from the bottom of the tree, which remains strongly variegated) with tape. Some of the best variegation is actually high in the tree. Here's the tree before this round of pruning. After yesterday's pruning, this is what we have left: This year I will hopefully be able to do a summer pruning pass, after the first flush, to cut of more green leaves. I will worry about the overall shaping if/when I have better variegation restored.
Emery....Ur comments....on losing varigagion. I feel like I have read this elsewhere. I am growing Usugumo. Love it. I am thinking about Hoshi Yadori and Naguri Nishiki, which I can get my hands on ....but the whole losing variegation makes me second guess whether I want it or not
These are both great pictums, I wish I could get my hands on Naguri nishiki! I had Kamasaka nishiki but it died. Akikaze nishiki does not revert, that's a beautiful tree, but does get large and it less showy than the others. The thing with these variegated trees that revert, you just have to keep up and get the all green parts cut off. And don't over-fertilize. So long as you do that, you'll be fine. -E
;-/ I swore off on only getting 1. I ended up getting both as I haven't seen them available until it just popped up. I guess it just means me removing more grass.....or the excuses that come with buying more and not have a specific spot for it.
Where is that Emoji with the *Wow* eyeballs ;-) I need to check out the growth rate on these. I received both and from soil line to the top, compared to the Usugumo I already got this year, these 2 is 40" in overall height. Lotsa buds (it's dormant), no side branching but a significant long leader I gotta say Usugumo did come from different grower, smaller sh1tty root development but I drove 4.5 hrs to get it and wasn't going to leave empty-handed.
