Recently I noticed some print references I have here do not agree: Jacobson 1996: "Greer nursery of Oregon, since [before/during]1985, has sold this atropurpureum cultivar" Van Gelderen/Van Gelderen 1999: "Named and introduced by Greer Gardens, Oregon, in 1985" Vertrees/Gregory 2001: "The origins of this red cultivar are uncertain except, contrary to its name, it did not originate directly from the Netherlands. It is possible it was selected and named at Wright's Nursery in Canby, Oregon, now no longer operating" Vertrees/Gregory 2007: "The name honors the town in the Netherlands where the nursery is located that introduced this plant" Presumably the attribution to Greer Gardens would be based on catalog listings. The curious part is the contradictory statements in the two versions of Vertrees/Gregory. Did something come to light recently that established its origins as in fact being a nursery in Boskoop?
I think you are going to have to contact the various parties such as Harold Greer, Dick van Gelderen and Peter Gregory and find out what they know of this Maple. There should not be a conflict as to the plants origin if the Maples of the World book suggests the plant did not come from the Netherlands, as far as they knew at the time of publication. That does not mean that someone else in the Netherlands may not have grown this Maple and wasn't given credit for its naming as the originating source. As you are well aware, various plant societies and in print publications have cited as their reference the name of a plant by who first offered it for resale. This does not mean that the plant was named or was originally grown by that person but credit was given to them by virtue of them having the first documented reference to it from their nursery catalogs. What are now considered old Maples from Japan were listed as being available in the late 1800's Yokohama nursery catalogs but not all of those Maples that served as the first documented names of those plants, that we know of, came from or originated from that nursery. Much like today in some circles, a group of people and/or a consortium of nurseries have joined forces to outlet their plants from one primary source for export rather than from a few to several, individual sources. Think of how some mail order nurseries that offer the plant for resale but do not grow it may have had to work things and have to resort to going to their source for that plant that does grow it to secure one to fill the order. Jim
