What would cause a Bloodgood Maple to never turn completely red? I bought 2 trees from a nursery, supposedly both Bloodgood and one turns a beautiful red while the other stays mostly green, with just a tiny hint of red around the fringe of the leaf. They are planted in the same area of the yard and get the same amount of sun and water. Any ideas, or did I just not get 2 of the same variety and am stuck?
Seedlings are sold in its place, apparently you got a couple. The one that is most "off" is the nearly green one. The true clonal (grafted) cultivar is a nice deep, non-fading purple.
Is this a widespread practice -- selling seedlings under a cultivar name? It seems pretty unethical. I know it happens in the perennial world, with named varieties like Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' for instance. But at least there you're only out a few bucks, and the seedling strain comes out looking pretty good anyway. These fake maple cultivars probably don't come cheap.
Mainly what is getting old for me is all the rootbound nursery stock offered here and how pervasive it is.
I gave my views on what I thought of this practice in a much older thread some time ago I believe that it is more common in America than in Europe. Here's hoping it does not become standard practice over here
Yeah, I agree with Alex. If they sold it as Bloodgood and its not, then you're entitled to exchange it or get your money back. (It still might turn out to be a lovely tree in its own way, but without the special characteristics of this named cultivar.) Ron, we have so few JMs in the local nursery trade around here that I doubt they have a chance to get rootbound. A recent visit to the biggest local garden center turned up only two varieties -- Red Dragon and Oshio Beni -- and only a few specimens of each, in 5-gallon pots selling for $159 and $169 respectively. The owner said he'd be getting more trees later.
