Hi All and many thanks for your time and energy. My first post so a little nervous but here goes. I have a beautiful old girl I believe is a Lace Leaf Japanese Maple. There seem to be so many varieties. Could someone please help me determine which variety she is? Her leaves are green during the summer and then turn a stunning red in fall. I have included a pic of what the leaf looks like right now.
Welcome to the forum lili. A very elegant leaf shape. There are many green dissectum maples so it will be very hard to definitively identify the exact cultivar. The only thing that is certain is that it is a variety of Acer palmatum var. dissectum. If you can post pictures of the overall tree shape and the fall color it might help with the ID, but don't get your hopes too high as more than likely you will still be left hanging. (We always like to see pics of beautiful old girl maples so please post them anyway, even if chance of definitive ID is relatively low.)
Thanks kindly for the warm welcome maf. Of course I would love to show you pictures of her. Here are two different views of her canopy and one of her trunk. She is 9 feet tall and the canopy is 15 feet side to side in all directions. The very base of her trunk is 38 inches in circumference. A fellow who admired her last summer, told me she would be well over 60 years old :) What do you think her age may be maf?
What a beauty! Could be anywhere over 50 years old, maybe even up to a hundred, depending on the growing conditions. Sometimes the only way to narrow it down is to look at the date the garden was created or the house was built.
Stunning tree, absolutely gorgeous! You mention summer and fall colors; what color(s) are the buds and new spring leaves? That *may* help narrow it down a bit, but as maf said, since there are so many with such subtle differences, it will be hard to determine just which cultivar it is. Either way, consider yourself extremely fortunate to have such a stately, beautiful tree. :)
Maf the house was built in the early 50's when I assume the first owners landscaped and planted her. Although I suppose they could have moved her from another location. The house being built at that time would put her in her 60's. Thank-you AlainK and maplesandpaws for seeing her beauty :) The farm is always so very busy I can't be sure of her bud color but new leaves are always green as in the first pic I posted. I saw one of my dogs taking a bite at her the other day and sent her off with a ball. When I got under the tree to make sure she hadn't sustained any great damage, I noticed the "green" on all the wood. Then I noticed a few odd white strange spots. Posted pictures of both here. Is she getting sick?? Is this normal? Does she need help? Any advice from you all would be most appreciated.
That is algae (green) and lichens (the pale splodges) on the bark; totally harmless organisms just using the old gal as a place to park. She would most likely have been between five and ten years old when planted into the landscape, giving a maximum possible age of around 70.
Just chiming in to say her bark looks very healthy. The lichens are a sign of clean air mostly, and as Maf says, harmless. Amazing to think she's 70 and in the prime of life, such a beautiful shape and strong tree. Lovely. No reason to think she won't outlive us all! :) Lucky you to be able to enjoy her, and thanks for sharing the pictures. -E
Thanks for your speedy reply maf and sharing your knowledge. When I saw the green and white yesterday, I must say I was very concerned. More so over the white, my thought went immediately to fungus. In my mind yikes "fungus = trouble" I am trying to learn and feel very fortunate to have found this forum. So many thanks for your clear feedback and happy all is well for her :) During inspection from under looking up, I could see well up into her canopy. There are a number of twig branches (dried looking no green or leaves) that seem to be dead. Should I take small hand nippers and cut them out or just leave them be? A few large pockets of dead leaves are stuck in places as well. Emery - thanks for coming on :) Prime of life you say wow! What would you venture lifespan to be if she stays healthy? I'm finding all this information fascinating.
During the 1950's housing increase there seems to be a fair amount of these weepers in the PNW. To find them in the 80 to 90 rear old range is nit easy but there are a fair amount of them around the Seattle area which are 100 years old and older. I do know there are some in the Portland area which are over 100. I will say the 70 year old trees are just a great size to enjoy, there is just something special about being able to walk under them
Life span depends on many factors, but it certainly would be reasonable to expect double, or more, given the state of the tree now. There are venerable Japanese Maples in Japan estimated to be 500 years old. As with all of us there are lots of potential pitfalls along the road, but if those are avoided she should go on for a long time yet. I find my maples tend to have the sort of interior twig dieback your seeing. It seems to be a sort of self-pruning as the tree loses branches that aren't really getting much light. So yes, you can just tidy these up with a secateur.
Quite true: you mentioned bonsai techniques, that's one of the reasons why bonsai amateurs prune the branches. It's not only to keep a shape, it's also to allow light inside the foliage so that the branches keep a ramification as close as possible to the trunk. And yes, lichen is harmless per se, but when there's too much, it's a nifty place for some pests to spend the winter or lay eggs.
