For those of you who are growing maples in Zone 4 or colder, and who have a collection of at least two kinds of japanese maples: Send me your seeds. I want to engage mass slaughter of seedlings. My plan: Start several thousand seedlings. Let them overwinter, see if any survive. In a collection, I've got good chances of getting hybrid varieties. Given the huge variation in JM leaves, there is likely a fair amount of other variation. Maple seeds are easy to collect by the bunch. I'd like to know the varietal name of the seed plant, as well as the other varieties nearby. Parentage will be sketchy even so. Because maples often produce empty or sterile seed, I'd like minimums of 300 seeds per plant. You don't have to dewing them. (In passing: I've got a similar experiment running with mountain hemlock -- another species that shouldn't be hardy on the prairies. I bought 500 seedlings. 40 have survived the first winter.) If any of you are near Edmonton, feel free to visit. Contact: Sherwood Botsford RR 1, Site 2, Box 5 Warburg, Alberta, T0C 2T0 email sgbotsford at gmail tel: 780 848 2548. If you are willing to participate in this project, drop me a line, letting me know when your maples are ripe. I'll phone or email you and remind you close to the time.
Oh, and I forgot to say: If you are willing to participate, I'll send you a pre-addressed stamped envelope.
