My 3 inch caliper Red Filigree Lace seldom flowers and more seldom produces pickable seeds, but I notice Spring 2011 has LOTS of flowers. Our winter has been unusual with early mid-October rains (usually they start after Halloween), 5 weeks or so of no rain all of January and 2 days of 80F in Jan (we had May in January) and then February and March have been quite rainy so we are more than 10% above our normal 34 inch rainfall and we have had long periods of cloudy/rainy weather and January's exceptional sunny warmth. The maples are maybe 2 weeks or more behind schedule. I watched a honeybee pollinizing those Red Filigree Lace flowers today and admired her industry and focus. I noticed both bees occasionally mistook a long red sepal for a flower group which made me think the bees use sight rather than smell in locating flowers. I will watch these flowers each day for the next month or more to see how many stay on the tree and become samaras and then I will plant those seeds this Fall to see what seedlings we get. I would welcome any observations and thoughts other forum colleagues might have. Thank you.
Hmm interesting,we had the coldest early winter on record so it would appear our weather(UK) has had little in common with yours,except for the unusually warm spring.I'd say I'm 2/3weeks ahead of last year.However I seldom get many flowers but this year I have a couple of maples on which I really struggle to find a leaf without a flower...crazy! Haven't seen any bees around yet though,which is a shame as there's so many flowers.
Lots of flowers but not many insects here. Is it possible for a 3-4 year old seedling to produce flowers? I've got a young tree here that doesn't seem to be a cutting or a graft and I'm pretty sure it's pushing flower buds. Wet and 43F here. Pic shows Katsura flowers
Over here: normal Fall weather with normal rainfall. Very warm winter with half the normal rainfall. The result is a huge amount of flowers with a lot of cultivars and species flowering for the first time. Gomero
Winter here drier than normal with average cold temps but more snow than usual (snow does not necessarily add up to a lot of moisture). Then we "flip-flopped" and got warmer and wetter than normal. Things pushed early, but no late frosts are predicted. Flowering seems average at this point.
That's a good question, Gil. I know that there is not a direct age/sexual maturity relationship in maples because I know mature maples can be pushed back to sexual juvenility by stressors. There is thought that witches brooms do not produce seeds because they remain sexually immature genetically but I have never read any literature about accelerated and early flower production. Are you pretty sure, Gil, of the exact age of that 'Katsura' and its origin?
Great observation, Gomero. I love to hear of 1st time flowerers. Keep us appraised of what seeds develop. Mike
I saw my first samaras on my Red Filigree Lace Sunday April 3rd. They are tiny but perfectly miniature samaras. There are many fewer of them than flowers and only a few of the flower inflorescenses have tiny samaras. Using my magnifying glasses, the male stamens are easy to see but the female pistils are very hard to observe in the interior center of the flowers. (I have a 'Butterfly' loaded with flowers on which the pistils are very obvious.). I know that Red Fili Lace tree does/can produce fertile samaras because I picked several seeds from it in October and the seedlings are about an inch high now with their first tru leaves which are dark red and very very thin, but this year looks like a bumper crumper of seeds. I have noticed no flower/inflorescenses dropping around the tree. By the way, when I was just now checking those Red Fili Lace seedlings I noticed that my circinnatum WB Hoyt wiches broom seeds that I planted in October 2010 have produced seedlings whose 1st set of true leaves are normal and not center lobe foreshortened so I will watch those but these are the 1st witches broom seeds I have harvested and propagated.
I meant to add to the above post that the 1st true leaves of circinnatum WB Hoyt do not look like circinnatum leaves at all nor are they center lobe foreshortened as I mentioned above. Interesting...will wait to see other sets of leaves.
this winter in Rome was with many rain and two week with low temperature -7° for !!!my maples this season have many flower:)for the first time acer rubrum October glory have samaras!!!but i'm very happy for..flowers of diabolicum!!!yes the amazing red flowers!!
A lot of flowers in Normandie also, after a very early and hard (lots of snow but not terribly low temps) winter followed by a warm, dry early spring. The ground is remarkably dry now for the time of year. Alex's post reminds me that diabolicum is flowering here too, but it is a new acquisition and a first year graft, so I think really just the scion is flowering and it will stop next year. But a similar tree, sinopurpurescens in the ground now for several years if still very small, also has a cascade of flowers from each bud this year, for the first time since it arrived. Also of note platanoides Crimson King very showy with flowers for the first time, along with some other platanoides cultivars. Hoping for a good seed crop this year! -E
I am truly amazed by the amount of maples which are flowering for the first time this year, both species and cultivars. There are so many that it is hard to pick some to show. 'Tiger Rose' caught my eye with this unusual clustering of flowers that, while typical of the reticulatums, it is particularly showy with this cultivar (see pic below). On a different note; there is a lot of die-back in the garden which is most unusual taking into account the very warm and very dry spring weather we've had around here. One would expect a lot of die-back with the opposite conditions, cool, moist weather. Gomero
This A. shirasawanum 'aureum' has (much) more flowers than I have ever seen on this particular example in previous years:
I checked my large Red Filigree Lace recently and ONLY 2 samaras have grown to size. All those hundreds of flowers (many of which formed cute tiny little samaras) have dropped. I noticed this also on my Albolimbatum which had many racemes and dropped them all. Also my craetigifolium Veitchii (which produced viable seeds 2 years ago) had plenty of flowers 3 weeks ago and is now completely empty. I noticed today while watering that a Bloodgood which occasionally seeds has a good number of good-sized samaras on it but the barrel soil around its base was littered with fallen smaller samaras which happened the last 2 days or so. I still have quite a few trees this year producing samaras for the first time and the flowering was prolific but they seed drop has begun in earnest. The Albolimbatum seemed too young to produce seed despite the heavy flowering and I was wondering if the Spring flowering exurberance gave way to the plant's needing the flowering/seeding energy for vegetative growing. I really would like to understand the energy mechanics of my maples better. Anyone have some thoughts on this whole matter?
Well, here in the NE US, I'm seeing more flowers on certain trees that never really produced much, like my Umegae, flowers on all new growth from what I can see. That never happened. Aconitifolium is also fully in flower this year; it's about a 12 year old tree now, and usually flowered, but never like this. For others, time will tell. I'm getting seedlings around now from prior years, that's new as well.
My second year with Acer longipes 'Gold Coin' and it didn't flower last year. The flower are stunning against the red color of the new leaves.
Hi Keith, Glad to see you have Gold Coin and enjoy it as much as I do! It's a real stunner, and like you I absolutely love the flowers. Surely one of the most striking maples in spring in my entire garden. I'd love to try and grow some seed from this, but unfortunately I haven't seen flowers for a few years. Never seen a samara, how about you? cheers, -E
keith, I second emery's comments on Gold Coin. Those flowers against the red background are awesome. Mike
Emery, this did not flower for me last year so this is a new experience and treat for me. I don't expect samaras unless it is self fertile. No other pollinators in miles that I am aware of. One of the few plants I brought with me to baby sit on my year mostly away from home. If it sets seed, I'll send you a couple Mike, I hope someday to see a full canopy of flowers
Ha, Keith, I will hold you to that! :) Samaras or not, I am pleased that so far -- I've had it for several years in the ground -- my Gold Coin is very healthy seeming. I do have a couple of candidates to fertilize it, but don't remember off hand if it is mono- or diecious. -E
emery i see only one season samaras ,my Gold coin is 4 years old this year maybe i have samaras near there, is Brillantissimum,puaciriflorum and shirasawanum Aureum
