Not that far away on the coast my generic Mikawa yatsubusa does have different colors in summer. The second growth is sometimes almost albino, sometimes pinkish, and sometimes yellow with pink tips but always green in Spring. We don't get the brutal sun of the valley, rarely above 70˚F with chilly winds and stays very humid. late June July
Question is grafted or grown from seed. Because grown from seed will show color variations dissimilar to the parent plant. My Mikawa grown from seed looks nothing like the parent plant and displays brilliant colors, especially in spring. Even if it is a graft it could be a scion taken from a seedling to get your grafted tree. I think my point is that unless you take a scion from a non seedling Mikawa, you really don’t know what you have. Especially when you get it from a nursery. You could have a grafted seedling and this is why your getting the colors you are. Unless you produced that tree yourself there is just no way to tell how it was done. My friend has a Mikawa that was produced via a scion from a seedling then grafted onto root stock. And you can certainly tell the difference between mine and his. I can almost guarantee just from looking yours is a seedling or grafted seedling. I am not 100 percent, but yours shows too much variation to be regular Mikawa. Here is my seedling for reference... IMG_6182.jpeg
Thanks for the explanation. I understand it gets hot, and there are so many different climates in the state, anyway. I don't really know your area very well. I have family, and now my daughter, in Portland. But my point about sun, I believe, stands. I'm talking about UV, Wattage, evapotranspiration (on a calm day). I guess it really comes down to prevailing winds and moisture in the air. I don't doubt you get plenty of burning hot sun. But at equal temperature, and equal length of illumination, evapotranspiration (and plain old scald) is always going to be much higher in Eastern OR, or Kansas. WRT the discussion above, if anyone takes a scion from a seedling, grafts it and sells it as Mikawa, that's simply dishonest. And probably illegal for false advertising in some states. The seedling never reproduces the cultivar exactly, which is why cultivars must be reproduced by cloning of some kind. Which is of course not to say that Mikawa yatsubusa doesn't make lots of nice seedlings, some quite similar to the mother plant. But those aren't Mikawa yatsubusa, or any kind of Mikawa... cheers, -E
True about the Mikawa seedling thing. But I would not be shocked about it. The Mikawa craze is in full swing and stronger than ever. People are making big money off Mikawa and nothing else. One grower told me that out of 100 cultivars he sells. Mikawa represents 80% of his income between Mikawa Yatsabusa and its varients. People are not banging down his door for say purple ghost or coral bark. They want those Mikawa varients!
For what it's worth, I bought the tree 8 years ago from small maple/dogwood/magnolia nursery just outside of Eugene. At the time I knew nothing about any Mikawa craze and the owner had not even put Mikawa in his catalog yet. 2 gallon for $30 as everything was half off. The plant was grafted, type of graft I hadn't seen before. Flat surface on the rootstock not any angular slits, only about an inch above the root flare. Bought a couple Hubbs Red Willow and a Beni Otake at the same time with the same type of graft. Owner told me who did the grafting but I don't remember. They have actually grown together in a way that minimizes the typical graft look.
Interesting, I was just having a conversation yesterday about how no one in England can find a Ghost of any type, and they're all going crazy! (My response was, why, most of them aren't very good, lol). I certainly take your point, and there's a long history of people doing just what you describe. Trying to find a "true" Sango kaku or Butterfly (not to mention Bloodgood) is a bit of a needle in a haystack. Many of those cultivars aren't even actual cultivars any more, but grex; a family of very similar plants. It would be a real shame to see that happening with Mikawa, especially since there's no lack of good material around to graft. Funny I just recommended Mikawa for my daughter to plant on the sidewalk-island in front of the house. It's got a lot going for it. Maybe they should avoid it, if it's getting too popular, though I don't recall seeing any in the neighborhood, unlike the thousands of Coral Bark-types, and Paperbark maples (nice!). It's pretty distinctive even with no leaves. -E
Pretty interesting conversation here everyone! I love the variants, I somewhat agree they are overrated/over hyped. Right now they are shining beacons in my garden... but that will soon wear off. I will say I wasn't in LOVE with Mayday, I think it's rather plain.... and my Yuki Yama's all died. I'm the crazy person who thinks Tattoo is the best variant.
Funny, I was actually going to mention Tattoo earlier in this discussion but felt like I had said enough already. Totally agree that it is a worthwhile Mikawa variant. I have a friend who last spring asked me to pick up a JM for him (he pretty much gave me carte blanche) and I happened upon a really nice 7 gal Tattoo and snagged it for him. And now I find myself a bit envious. Is it dramatically different? No, but it is noticeably and pleasantly so. As has been alluded to already, I find the most interesting aspect of this discussion to be the diversity in tastes with various JM cultivars, the ghosts being a perfect example. As another example, there are days when Kurui jishi is my favorite tree in my collection, yet others have said "is there something wrong with that poor thing?!" and I get it, and I think that's just fine.
Just for info, the correct name for Yuki yama is 'Snow kitten', named by the grand-daughter of the original propagator. As some observed to me recently, that's what you get when you ask a little girl to name a maple! Several evaluators felt the maple, already difficult to graft, was not robust enough to make a commercial introduction and shouldn't be brought to market. It seems like one of those that, as Yano sometimes says, "requires cultural techniques." Buchholz didn't like the name (which is pretty awful, to be fair) and so summarily sold it under Yuki yama, Snow mountain. Anyone tried 'Lilypad'? Another Mikawa offspring...
I like Lily pad so much that it is one of the few cultivars that I have two of! To be fair, though, I bought the second one because I found a nice 5 gal, a year after buying my first tiny, tiny little one and couldn't resist. Just bought a Catalina yatsabusa last year and so far I'm thinking I might like it more than Lily pad. Brighter green for sure As for names, there's another subject that polarizes us and I think it's great. I recall reading a post from someone a while back suggesting that we should stop using Japanese names because they're too hard. Talon B hates the name Dark Knight because of the Batman reference. I personally think the Mother/Grandma/Baby ghost thing is utterly silly. Also, I think Peaches and Cream is so ridiculous a name that I hesitate to point it out to visitors in my garden. Etc. etc. Good thing the names aren't really important to me overall.
Lol, absolutely right, it's 'Lily pad' not Lilypad. I thought I might try it. The one that kills me is Ikandi! But good marketing, and Buchholtz and the Nichols bros are really great marketers. Dark Knight is super memorable, like a lot of Matt and Tim's names. Not a fan personally, but it makes great business sense, just like Eye Candy. So long as we have a unique way to identify a cultivar, I'm happy enough with it. Even if it's a cringe worthy name. IMHO renaming Japanese cultivars would create even more confusion, and there's already plenty of that!
While we're on names... My wife actually scoffed at the name when I showed her "Green Twinkle" ... And then Matt and Tim added an s to the end! lol. I do have Lily Pad, but I haven't had it long enough to give any solid evaluation. It is cute though.
Tattoo is a tree that I slept on too. It's a more refined version of Mikawa IMO, it has that extra intricate branch structure and the leaf shape is superior too. The fall color I got from it last year was the absolute best out of my entire garden and my parents too. I'll share the picture here. I'd say everyone should seek out a Tattoo, especially if they can skip the small twig phase and find a 5 gallon or larger. I LOVE that you mentioned Kurenai Jishi. It's actually one of my new favorites too. I find myself gravitating over to it just to admire the unique red color, leaf shape curl and habit all the time... it's making the other trees jealous hahaha.
Not that it really matters, as the point of this is we all have different likes and dislikes, but I was referring to Kurui, not Kurenai jishi. As in the dwarf Okushimo. I have Kurenai too. It's fine but never super impressive for me.
