Hi, I only know of only two Japanese maple super gardens in North America and Im planning to visit both. One is in Everett, WA called Amazing Maples (www.amazingmaples.com) and one is from a private collector, Bryan Tapia, from Puyallup, WA. These guys have more than 300 cultivars in their collection. I was wondering if you happen to know any other Japanese Maple super gardens in North America? Please reply to me, if you own one of these Japanese maple super gardens, I promise to pay you $20 just to let me see your collection. I was also wondering if you happen to know where is JD Vertrees' Japanese maple Garden in Oregon? Can you also tell me the Top 3 nurseries in North America has the most number of cultivars? Thanks.
Boloxis, A maple super garden! Only 300 cultivars is the threshold to merit the "super garden" status? Since the checklist has been published I would think one thousand cultivars to get the super designation. I think there are several folks on here with a measly 300.
Perhaps you would consider joining the Maple Society, then various folks would be delighted to have you visit their gardens. Otherwise in Boston the Arnold Arboretum has many great maples in the collection, but I don't know how many "Japanese" there are per se. There are IIRC around 40 mature palmatum specimens, many magnificent, in the Mt Auburn cemetery. -E
boloxis, As emery mentioned there are many collectors in the Maple Society and the upcoming meeting in OR in October may be a good time to view some of the collections and meet other collectors. The following link is on the upcoming meeting http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=51972. If you are ever in the NJ area you are welcome to stop by and see my garden. I would not call it a super garden just a garden with quite a few maples. Ed
Sorry I'm just a newbie slightly obsessed with Japanese maples. This has become my passion since my retirement this year. I just bought my very first tree last March. I was referring to Acer palmatums and dissectums only, I never even thought there are more than a 350 cultivars. There are only a few enthusiasts here in West Coast Canada that I can talk to. Are you sure there are almost 4,000 cultivars of Acer Palmatums? dammit I have to scratch off "Personally see ALL the Japanese maple cultivars" on my things to do list before I die, I think this would be impossible to accomplish.
boloxis, Viewing 300 cultivars is plenty. Despite a checklist that numbers in the thousands it's doubtful that many are cultivar status worthy. Every year there are many "new" introductions. It's impossible to even know for sure which are actually legit introductions of worthy plants. It is easy to become obsessed and impossible to keep only one tree. Check out the image section @ UBC. Most of the notable cultivars are pictured there. If you can make it to New Jersey 'NJACERS' garden is absolutely worth visiting. You picked an excellent object to get passionate about, welcome.
Wow yes of course, Westonbirt is my no.1 must see garden in my list. This is the one that the super maple expert, Peter Gregory put up right?
It is funny to read about a japanese maple tree super garden. As the founder of Amazing Maples, it is an honor to read this comment. Amazing Maples is a visual experience of colors and shapes using japanese maple trees. It is situated on a 1/2 acre lot and is far from supersize but it is a unique presentaion of some 500 to 600 of the most outstanding types of maple trees. In the setting there are atleast 300 different types of maple and throughout the year the selection of maples changes. Amazing maples is driven by my desire to search the Pacific Northwest for the finest examples of any cultivar. Only trees with great shape, size and form are added to the collection. People of the Seattle region get the opertunity to select from these incredible trees. Amazing Maples is a garden and in visiting it, you will see maple trees as if you are in your own backyard. People spend hours wondering back and forth over this little 1/2 acre lot laboring their brain as to which one of the cultivars best fits their dream garden. Amazing maples does not aim to have the most amount of maples, there are plent of people fighting over that position. Amazing maples aims to providing one of the most spectacular displays of rare and unusual maples. Here is a preview of an article about the garden http://www.valeaston.com/japanese-maples/ . People of the northwest who have been in the nursery business for years are all greatly impressed with Amazing Maples. They say it is a one of a kind and is well worth a visit to see.
Charlie, Looks like you have done a splendid work of art. Well done and many congratulations. I am glad you put the above post because I was unaware of Amazing Maples. I need to spend more time on your web site and study it more and that will be fun. I have a 0.40 acre lot including the house and like you I have hundreds & hundreds of maples (but nowhere near as attractively positioned as yours!) in pots so I can appreciate the special genius (which I have NOT reached) of arrangement in small garden spaces. Mike aka 'katsura'
And to think I've been coming to Seattle almost every other week for the past 3 years and had no idea you were there!! What a bummer! Now the project is over, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to return. :( But your garden is astounding!! Thanks for the pics!
I do believe there is some confusion about the photos. Many of the photos in the gallery are not of my garden, they are photos taken by Talon Buchholz at his nursery in Oregon and that is over 60 acres in size. His place is quite a bit bigger than an average garden or my 1/2 acre. if you go to the Maple Society meeting in Oregon, you will get a tour of it. You all found my website before I could finish, I had not finished labeling all the photos. In the last day the list of maple page was set up. I still need to finish it with a link to photos of the actual tree. I did provide a hyperlink on it for each tree. The link gives detail about the cultivar and some photos. I started amazing maples a couple years ago, it has been continuely changing. The photo on my home page was how the garden started out, it has since changed. I am working on a youtube of the garden which will give a real view of it. I never thought about the fact that people nationally or worldwide would find amazingmaples, I was only trying to get it out to the people in the Seattle region. It is great to see the responce from everyone and I hope that over time everyone will be able to use the site for their benefit.
I never try and miss an oppurtunity to put in a good word for our local Missouri Botanical Garden. I don't think it has the numbers you all are talking about above, but some very pretty specimens. If you come to St. Louis, save 2 days for the gardens (and an empty stomach for the Hill) !! pics taken 6/12/08
I got to visit Amazing Maples last weekend and see Charlie's personal garden, his parents' garden (that's where he's hidden some particularly fine jewels) and his collection of available trees. While most were out of leaf the combination of shear quantity and variety of sizable maples was amazing (yes, that's the best adjective). My mind is still reeling. Thanks for having me out on such short notice, Charlie. Believe it or not, I "restrained" myself and only came away with six specimen sized trees. They got put in the ground today, but due to rain I don't have any pictures. But just to tease a little, this month's acquisitions include... Brandt's Dwarf - about 7' or 8' tall in the ground with this great purple plum colored bark. The few leaves left on the tree are just shockingly red and really pretty. And I love the overall shape. Very symmetrical. Tsuma gaki - about four feet from ground to tip and really well rounded. That's been given pride of place right by my front door where it will get lots of shade. Geisha Gone Wild - gotta be 8' tall from the ground and a fun swirly conformation from base to mid section. I just might play around with that with staking and lines, but I like it just the way it is right now. Ijima sunago - this tree is only about five feet tall from the ground but it has a truly balanced shape and I love the bark color. Hard to describe, hints of yellow distally. Red Dragon - classic red. Kasagiyama - I finally got one! And I paid significantly less than for what I saw asked for a similarly sized one from a local nursery. I wish I'd known about Charlie before I bought my Amber Ghost or Purple Ghost. Yes, you heard me. Remember my Purple Ghost about whose size I was so excited? It now looks tiny and poorly shaped compared to what I saw. Oh well, I'll just have to be patient and tweak it till I get it where I want it. I'm so thrilled with my six new babies I can't even stand it. Acer Alley is almost complete! Um, not quite complete. Finished? Um, no. Full? We-ell... At "only" 37 cultivars I'm more at mini garden status than super. How about starting to look pretty cool and will still get additions and substitutions? There, that's closer to the truth! But seriously, there's only two "holes" left and one spot that will be preempted if I ever find a good sized Akane. One hole is crying for a year round red that's shade resistant (palmatum, not linearlobum or anything else). The other will probably be filled by the Coral Bark that came with the house and that's in the way of the septic repair (it's not a great example but it's huge). My Olsen's Frosted Strawberry is pretty small so if I found another larger I'd swap it out. And the Akane (if I ever find one) will take the place of the old Katsura I have with the mediocre shape. But my six new acquisitions have really added to the shape and presence of things. Thank you Charlie!
The Ruby Mize Azalea garden (and connected SFASU arboretum) in Nacogdoches Tx has a great collection of maples, somewhere between 200 - 300. It's in zone 8a, and is a good indicator of how these plants perform in the south. Nacogdoches is in east Texas, and is called the piney woods area, with high rainfall, acid soils--not what one usually thinks of when they think Texas--and acers do very well there.
Congrats Winter sounds like exciting additions. Campbtl any pic of that collection? I haven't heard much of many impressive southern maple gardens.
It's very impressive (for the deep south!). I went to school there in the 70's, and that area was a thicket used for mapping exercises by the geology crowd. So the garden is recent. They have two really nice large Seiryus flanking the entrance, and while many of the maples are small, more recent additions, they have an abundance of mature specimens. They recently revamped the website, and it wasn't an improvement. The photos are now just about impossible to find...here's the link http://ag.sfasu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=26 This not a 'maple' garden, but a very diverse collection. The maples were, I think, the contribution of Dr. Creech's obsession.
I'm not sure that I have a "super garden", but I do confess to being a certified Japanese Maple "freak". I collect all types of Acer palmatums, japonicum's, circinatums and shirswanums. I 've got approx. 200 maples and conifers in the ground and more on the way. I typically sell over 100 varieties at local Puyallup Farmers Market on Saturdays in May. I'm always looking for rare varieties of Japanese Maples to collect via trade. If your interested please contact me at bytapia@comcast.net . Bryan
Bryan Thanks again for coming to visit, it was a pleasure to listening to all the great information you have collected about the different japanese maples. The written information you sent me is great and I think you have the right idea. I look forward to coming down and seeing all of those varieties in person. You have a collected a lot!!!!
I love how you have everything packed in so tight, Charlie. I like that look - its they way things grow in the woods, shoulder to shoulder. Fantastic!
