Hi all, I visited a local nursery yesterday and found this unusual tree, but I am at a lost to ID it. I've checked online, but could not fine anything like it. The first pic is of it on my balcony next to the rest of my modest Japanese maple collection. It's the tallest tree. On the lower left is a Shin deshojo and on the lower right is a Tama hime. Both are in 1 gal. containers. The Mystery maple is in a 2 gal. container. As you can see in the close up pics the leaves are palmate and very tiny. The new branches and petioles are bright red. The trunk leading all the way down to the graft is lime green. The leaves at the top which received the most sun exposure at the nursery are tinged with red tips and edges. The leaves at the bottom are mostly green. And, for the most unusual aspect of this tree I think, the leaves are varigated. Sort of a yellow green and medium green persist on almost all the leaves. Also, the leaves are rather thick as compared with the Shin deshojo and Tama hime. The tree is very sun tolerant as it has virtually no leaf burn despite being in rather strong sun at the nursery. If anybody can ID this tree I'd be really grateful. Thanks, Layne
Hi Elmore, Thanks for the reply. I've been searching online and the description given by MountainMaples.com for a Tennyo no hoshi seems to match exactly what I have. However, the picture they have and others of Tennyo no hoshi I've seen online don't quite match what I have. I do know that cultivars can look somewhat different depending on climate, weather, sun exposure, etc. so maybe it is a Tennyo no hoshi, but I'd like to be positive in the ID. I had this bright idea earlier today that I'd wait for the Fall colors and that would help me ID the tree. However, two online sources say Tennyo no hoshi is red during Fall and two others say yellow! *sigh*.... From what I gather Vertrees registered the cultivar back in '85 after he saw it in some guy's collection in Japan. Perhaps it's in Vertrees' book, but I don't yet have it. I'm reasoning the money I'd spend buying the book I could have bought one maybe two more maples! :-) Any body else out there want to take a stab at IDing this maple. A lot of the maples at this nursery had tags missing. :-( It does have a graft scar so I'm reasonably certain it's a cultivar and not a seedling. Again, any and all help is greatly appreciated, Layne
'Tennyo-no-hoshi' ? Layne, in reading about 'Tennyo-no-hoshi' in the latest edition of Japanese Maples it describes it as very similar to 'Ao kanzashi' in habit, leaf shape and variegation. I have 'Ao kanzashi' and it does not look a lot like your plant. Although looking at your picture to the far right I do see that variegated portion of the leaf lobes. Here is a picture of my little 'Ao kanzashi' grafted in the summer of 2002, photo made 6-9-03.
Hi Acerbob, Thanks for taking the time to reply. I honestly don't think Beni maiko could be it. What's throwing me for a loop is that all the suggestions and even my idea that it is a Tennyo no hoshi is that all the pics I've seen the leaf veins are cream/light green whereas my tree has pink/bright red veins...even on leaves that didn't receive much sun. Check this pic that I also took but didn't post. It's of a couple bottom branches that didn't get much sun. If you look closely: Some leaves have slight, almost imperceptible varigation. The leaves in the upper righthand corner and bottom center have red veins. Most of the leaves in the upper lefthand corner have red veins except for a couple. It's kind of reassuring I'm not the only one stymied. :-) While it's frustrating it's also kind of fun doing some detective work and getting everyone's input and help. This tree did get A LOT of sun at the nursery. Perhaps after it leafs out next Spring it'll look more like one of the pics online I've seen as it's getting much less sun. For now though I'll just enjoy all the colors of this tree. :-) Thanks, Layne
Hi Layne: It is not so much that important to get the name of a plant we cannot see at various stages right but to at least get the number of possibilities down to where we can in time figure out what the plant may be named if it indeed does have a name. Many consumers as well as nursery people automatically assume a Maple is a named variety when we see that the plant was grafted. If it is grafted it has to have a name, right? Not necessarily and in many cases, especially with Bloodgood, for example, the grafted plant did not come from wood from a Bloodgood but generally came from a seedling instead. The one thing we all have to learn the hard way and it takes time and seeing a lot of Maples is to know what a plant is named before we ever buy it. I've seen so many misnamed Maples that I automatically assume the worst and I do wish I did not have to do things that way. Now to your Maple. When I see a Maple in a nursery without a label I feel there was a reason for it, unlike the Dr. Seuss thread whereby the nursery people are either being downright stupid or they are playing someone else's game. For the record, Elmore has the right idea with what he posted that the name came from another plant entirely and it is not a Maple. I suppose that a person may have grown a seedling, grafted it and called it Dr Seuss but I seriously doubt that did happen. If the originator of that Maple wants to tell me different here is your chance fella. Knock yourself out! Okay, you bought a Maple that appears to not have a name tag and since it appears to you to have been grafted it has to have a name, which it may not have a name as of yet but the plant came from a nursery so it has to be legit. Well, it may be legitimate and it most likely isn't. For us to track down a possible name we will have to see this plant during the Summer, the Fall and especially the Spring to take note of the coloration. Then we will need to see it for a few years to know if the color holds true to what we are seeing for a variegation today. Harusame shows some variegation on a few leaves when it is young but will green out in about 3-5 years and then will stay green. Go look at people's stock plants that have had this Maple for a long time and tell me how many leaves are variegated? The point being is that I've seen Maples that were variegated when they were young and then lost the variegation as the tree grew older. I've also seen Maples that had no variegation for 12-15 years, later develop a strong variegation for 3-5 years and then die on us. Anything that anyone states for a name to this point almost becomes absurd as we do not know enough about this Maple to know if it is a named variety or was it just a seedling selection that was grafted and later sold to the nursery as a nameless variety of Japanese Maple. A case in point is the old Red Laceleaf Maple designation that was applied to all other lace leaf non Burgundy Lace Maples until Sherwood Flame was found in Oregon. Red Dissectum had a general meaning also for a long time in which any red cultivar not named or had a missing label would be sold as being a Red Dissectum. Today, we have people making up names as they go along. Now, no one really knows what Pendula Julian looks like unless they buy one from a grower that has had that variety for a long while. In today's world a long while seems to be 2-3 years and we assume that the person bought the right plant to begin with. In my estimation it is much more likely that the grower did not buy the right Maple, so the illusion continues on and will persist for who knows how long. Reality sucks and those of us that have been around in Maples for a long while can tell others a few of the do's and the don'ts. The best advice I can give is to buy a Maple that you like regardless of the name on the label if there is one. I strongly suggest you buy one of the editions of the Japanese Maple books. I've had my copy real soon after I bought my first Japanese Maple 22 years ago, a Koto Ito Komachi. An old friend of ours that is a renown glass book author told us to buy the book instead of buying the glass piece referenced in the book. I thought he was just trying to sell us his book but I later learned why the book is so important and that is, so we will minimize our mistake purchases. With just one precluded mistake with us having the book, the book more than pays for itself. Dr. Cohen was right on the mark in more ways than one. You are doing the right thing to try to track down this Maple and do not give up but you will want to have the Japanese Maple book as a handy companion for you to do some serious detective work on this Maple. I can be wrong but I feel time will tell us more of what we need to know about this Maple of yours than what we are trying to piece together today. Good luck, Jim
Hi Layne: What has to be eliminated is the guessing. I know people are trying to help but guessing is not the right way to do things. Either people know what your Maple is or they do not know. If they do not know, it is probably more productive to remain silent. You cannot do much work on your own without a copy of one of the editions of the Japanese Maple books on hand. When you can show us what this Maple looks like in the Fall and the Spring is when I will let you know what Maple you have as I will be working on it myself. I already have a strong suspicion but I'd like to have more time to know for sure, along with seeing how this Maple progresses over time. If someone in the meantime gets it right I will confirm it for you. How's that? Jim
I'm not certain I understand why guessing has to be eliminated. It seems to me that the back-and-forth process is a learning one that is forcing Layne to examine the plant critically and really define the subtleties of its properties for the others on this forum, while everyone else reading this can learn about the difficulties of determining an exact name for a Japanese maple when its attributes throughout the entire year are unknown (and even then can be difficult). From a personal standpoint, I'd prefer people on the forums guess and be wrong (with an explanation of why) than to have people remain silent for fear of being wrong. I do have to qualify that by saying educated guesses are better in narrowing down possibilities. My thoughts on this are based on my personal experiences - I've made mistakes and it's helped me to learn to check my assumptions before posting (a recent example - in the plant ID forum, someone from Colorado posted about a Veratrum - I immediately thought V. viride and started to post my reply to that effect, but then thought, "Well, maybe it is different in Colorado. Do I really know what that is?") or to couch my responses with hedges when certainty is impossible due to lack of knowledge (either on my part or the unknown variables in the question). I'm curious to understand the why behind your assertion. Could you give your reasons or feelings behind it? Then I can determine whether I need to change my notions or not.
Hi Daniel: Most of the time I really do like to read the suggestions from others. I think in most cases they are quite helpful. The why is simple from my point of view and it entails a little history in regards to Tennyo no hoshi. Mr. Vertrees did not get his hands on that Maple from someone in Japan. Technically, the plant that Mr. Vertrees had was later found to be another Maple altogether. The "Oregon" form that came about later for Tennyo no hoshi is a very small leafed dwarf with 5-7 lobes of which the central lobe and the 2 smallest side lobes are of regular shape but the others are noticeably irregular, quite curved to be exact. The color of the petioles are green, not red and the largest plant I've ever seen of the Oregon form is no taller than 2 1/2' high. The Maple is a strong variegate in color, a highly colored creamy white with very little green in the leaf at any time of the year. If you look at the Butterfly pic I showed of the Oregon form you will see that some of the leaves are almost a solid creamy white. That is what Tennyo no hoshi does indeed look like in comparison but the leaves are quite small in size, almost the same exact size as a Beni hime. During the early Summer a very fine sand sprinkling (Fu) starts to develop and can be seen on the leaves as the creamy white fades to an off white but the sand sprinkle is a rust color. I may be the only person in this forum to have seen this Maple and I also saw the plant that Mr. Vertrees first had and wrote about in his book and they are worlds apart. Ao kanzashi to the old guard in Japan is Butterfly. Beni maiko is not a variegate at all. You are right to question me about my being a "big meanie" but I could not let the current scenario go on as it was. It had gone too far as no one had come close to naming what Layne has and it could be that we may not be sure of what he has for a long while. There was a variety that was long ago seemingly lost, about 15 years ago, that was never officially named but I know where it originated from and what that grower called it. Mr. Vertrees was shown the Maple and the consensus was to watch it for the same reasons I used, to see if the variegation holds or not. The form that I remember did not hold its variegation after the 3rd year and it was a seedling from a form of Orido nishiki that has the gold stripes in the bark. After the 3rd year in more than one location the Maple would develop a faint pink in with the green based leaf giving the false/positive impression that it could be a Wilson's Pink Dwarf which is another Maple altogether. The Maple I saw should be a semi-dwarf and gets to about the same size as a large Beni komachi will, somewhere between 9-12' tall at its maximum but we never saw the Maple get over 6' tall before it vanished right before all of us that either had it or knew about it. There were only about 8 people including 2 in Japan that knew anything about that Maple. The crazy thing is that one did come in from Japan but it was seedling selection from Orido nishiki. I would have liked to keep all of the above a secret so it is my fault for my involvement in this thread. Still, the bantering of bogus information around as a supposition based on nothing conclusive without aid of a copy of the Japanese Maple book involving an old friend of mine is reason enough to have me defend him. Rather than do that openly by telling Layne he is way off base in regards to a matter he knows nothing about, I helped put the kabbosh or so I thought on this thread rather than divulge what I know to be true. All the while knowing full well that no one will believe me about Mr. Vertrees and Tennyo no hoshi. He originally got that Maple and the Oregon form of Tennyo no hoshi from a certain someone else in Canby, Oregon, rather than from someone in Japan. Now, even after the retraction of the name years later by Mr. Vertrees we still have the old form in the nursery trade and I doubt any of us know what the rightful name of that plant is but there are people still around in Japan that might be able to tell us, as it was some of them telling J.D. about that original Maple of his is what convinced Mr. Vertrees to change his thinking on that Maple. All the best, Jim
I forgot to mention Okukuji nishiki which is another variegated small leafed dwarf that is most similar in its coloration to Tennyo no hoshi. There are marked differences in the sizes and the shapes of the leaves themselves. Also, there is no apparent Fu in Okukuji nishiki that I know of. The original Tennyo no hoshi did come from Japan as Don Kleim brought it in back in 1977 and then outletted it to two people in Oregon. Don never did graft the Maple but a few others did but not with a lot of success. It has been since 1992 that I've seen the Maple in Oregon and I do not know if the gentleman I know well still has it. The old plant at Henderson Experimental Gardens perished around 1996. The Japanese here in the US and in Japan knew all about this Maple long before anyone here knew much of anything. Don brought it in as another name entirely but later on it was confirmed by select others that the Tennyo no hoshi name is what the Japanese called the Maple. I've gone my limit on this Maple. I know others are still selling the former Tennyo no hoshi as described by Mr. Vertrees and that is perfectly fine, they will not have to worry about that. If people want to talk Maples then talk Maples, darn it. There are a lot of eyes out there that are watching what goes on in this forum. When we talk names of people we have to be careful as even I told a few somethings that is not going to go over very well with other Maple enthusiasts. I've tried to give some background before in some threads and referenced people that knew much of what I wrote about Tennyo no hoshi. I did not learn this on my own. I learned it from others and even when I get uptight that there is little desire to know about the goings on of the past, the rifts between certain people and those that were accommodating to everyone that had a passion for Maples, it seems to me that some of the history of the Maples, how they got here, when they came in and who got some of them probably should stay with me. I am just not seeing any real interest in others wanting to know that information. People either feel they know it already or they just do not care to know anything more about it and that is fine with me now. I am finally at peace with it all after all of this time and I've had 8+ years of inner turmoil to get over knowing I was perhaps the last bastion that could tell the story from various US Japanese Maple pioneers viewpoints. I never did want to be in that position. Good luck to all of you. Time for a break. I'll leave you guys alone for a while as I'd rather deal with "my baby" my original love in plants, the Fruit Trees. That is the one subject that always makes me feel right at home. If you feel an apology is in order then I will apologize to you Layne. Keep growing Maples! Best regards, Jim
Hi Jim, Absolutely no apology is necessary! What you've written was ALL very enlightening. One of the things that attracted me to this maple "thing" was the incredible variations in the leaves, branches, bark, etc. Most other types of plants, like orchids, roses, fruit tree, etc. are admired for their different flowers or fruit. To me that's "easy". No offense to you rose and orchid collectors out there. My grandmother raises orchids and I love visiting local rose gardens and can spend hours there. But, as far as collecting roses I'm only interested in a couple whereas with Japanese maples I want to almost collect them all! The only other type of plant species that holds my interest as much as maples, and for the same reasons, are cacti and succulents. Sometimes the variations are huge and sometimes they're subtle....like Murasaki kiyohime and Murasaki hime. I'm still trying to work on that one. Even the names are subtle. As far as Vertrees dicovering Tennyo no hoshi in Japan and registering it I read that somewhere online, but can't remember where. If I do remember I'll email you, Jim. As you wrote in a previous post: "When you can show us what this Maple looks like in the Fall and the Spring is when I will let you know what Maple you have as I will be working on it myself. I already have a strong suspicion but I'd like to have more time to know for sure, along with seeing how this Maple progresses over time. If someone in the meantime gets it right I will confirm it for you. How's that?" It's a deal. I'll keep you and every one here posted and hopefully with the good help here I can ID this Mystery Maple. Thanks Jim (and everyone else too) for you insight and help, Layne
jeez Jim, how about you just cut the answer to a few sentences in stead of leaving the Maple chat to us common folk? :) I am kidding of course. It would be a shame to see so much knowledge and experience get left out of the conversations here in the Maple forum.
Layne: I'll be glad to help out if I can with this Maple. Paul: I have not left the Maple forum nor will I be leaving. I just would prefer others to come in and voice their opinions more without interference from me on certain issues. ID's are a problem anyway as we cannot see the Maples long enough to know for sure what we are seeing from one or a few pics of it. I'll leave people alone with the ID's of Maples for a long while unless I am asked for help. I over stepped my bounds, was wrong in what I did and I know it. The only good thing about all of this is that I will personally help with this Maple. That may be good or perhaps not but now I have a vested interest in the Maple that I may not have had otherwise. Jim
Mr. Shep: I live in southern oregon and purchased the a Tennyo no hoshi from a local nursery last fall. It was a relatively old tree by nursery standards and now stands 5' tall with about a 3' circumference and about 2" trunk caliper. It is night now, so a picture of the tree was out, but I was so intrigued by your statements that I thought I would post some leaf pictures. Not that it matters a great deal, but this tree seems to match the description in "Japanese Maples," 3rd ed. but certainly has outgrown the dwarf you mention in your post(2.5'). The dwarf form being the one no longer cultivated?? and the larger tree with mostly green leaves and white margins (some pink with age) being the common cultivar sold as Tennyo no hoshi? Just intrigued and would like to hear you clarification if you have time. Thank, Michael
Hi Michael: The Tennyo no hoshi as described in the 3rd Edition Japanese Maple book is the same plant as what Mr. Vertrees had. This Maple is better characterized as being a semi-dwarf as it can get up to 9-12 feet tall in time in the right locations. I believe there is one that size in Holland right now. What will help is to see some pictures of Tennyo no hoshi in the next edition of the Japanese Maple book. What would be far better is to let others see in picture form what the Maple looks like in the Spring, late Spring or early Summer, late Summer and then in the Fall. Mr. Vertrees to my knowledge never had the "true" dwarf form but it is still being cultivated. The leaf size is less than 1/2" in length, real small, dainty leaves with noticeably more creamy white variegation in the edges of the leaves with only a just hint of pink in the Spring only. The reason I mentioned Okukuji nishiki is that the dwarf form of Tennyo no hoshi from Japan has leaves about the same size in length and has almost the same growth habit but is a slower grower than Okukuji nishiki is. Another thing to mention is that both plants can have high colored variegation in that in some leaves there is almost no green coloration but are seemingly totally variegated. In contrast to Layne's Maple look at the red veination, on most leaves light pink margins of the leaves, the distinct color of the petioles and the subtleties of pink in the leaf itself elsewhere. Tennyo no hoshi, even in the Spring when we might see some pink, does not get that strong or characteristic shade of pink ever in the leaf as Layne's Maple has. Granted, in many Maples the petioles at first will be red or appear reddish in color, some can even be pink. As the leaves progress in age during the growing season the petioles will in many cases turn to green instead. I know of a grower that raised a seedling just like Layne's which was quite similar to the form that came in from Japan called 'Akashima'. There is no documentation on Akashima to my knowledge outside of Japan but it did originate from a well known nurseryman in Kyoto. Akashima was imported into the US in 1977. The seedling like Layne's did not hold its variegation after the second year but it did keep the red veination, lightly pink colored margins and well as some other areas of pink in the leaf, even subtle tones of pink during the Summer. Lets' just say for now that I may have found out that a certain someone I know from the past may be propagating Maples as the unnamed seedling was his dads. His father was one of Don Kleim's brother's in law. If the Maple is the same one, then I know all about it as I was good friends with his father, George, also. George had several seedlings that had a lot of promise including one off of his "big Shishi", that is what we all called his Shishigashira, that had red leaves. He also had a variegated seedling from Whitney Red that should have been introduced into the nursery trade. George also had a seedling show variegation from Shaina as well. I know his son well enough but had lost track of him for the last 6-7 years after all of the Maples had been moved to near San Luis Obispo from Visalia a couple of years after George passed away. Jim
Thanks Jim: I appreciate the clarification. The Tennyo no hoshi I have had for just a year was quite a strange find for the nursuries around Medford, Oregon. The particular nursery always seems to have large specimens or otherwise unique plants for the area--maybe he buys end-of-season clearance trees from a wholesaler. Last season there were a couple large Tennyo no hoshi, Seriyu, Omure yama, and a few other very common cultivars, but at just over $100 each for a 5ft semi-dwarf tree, I was shocked. I had never seen the much variety around here and never the Tennyo, so we bought it. I have always wondered about it and to see its pretty vigorous vase-shaped growth (especially in width) now 5-6ft tall and 4ft wide, it is really becoming a beautiful tree. The leaves in the upper canopy of the tree burn some in the hot dry heat of the valley, but many hold up well and I hope to see a nice fall display. I second you statement in hoping that the next edition of Vertrees contains more photos, and maybe some seasonal arrays of cultivars, much like I think I have seen in another maple reference. But not to further detract from the original thread, thanks again. Michael
Hi Michael: There was and still is, I think, a Rock Garden specialist near Ashland that used to have several varieties of dwarf and semi-dwarf Maples. I never stopped by for a visit but I once knew who he was getting all of his Maples from. For resale and retail nurseries in Oregon I would always inquire as to where they got their Maples. I want to know who the grower was. Still, we have a nursery here that has been getting large sized Maples from Oregon for years and last year got in some large sized Maples from a leading grower in Oregon. I would say that over half of the trees were mislabeled which is good for me if I want them but I was rather dismayed that a nursery I knew well from the past would have such labeling problems. Prices - what can I say? Any more if a person wants a nice sized 15 gallon plant they are going to pay somewhere between $89.95 - 149.95 for it. The prices really change for specialty Maples as I know of a nursery in Northern California that sells named varieties for $2,000 for each 15 gallon dwarfs such as Tamahime, Kiyohime, Kotohime, Sekka yatsubusa, Coonara Pygmy and Sharp's Pygmy to name a few that I have seen before and saw there recently. Don't worry about introducing a sub topic for an existing thread. I've done it myself and I'll do it again I suppose. Any more when we go into a nursery we should analyze the plant and determine if we have interest in it before we ever look at the label. Even still, we should buy a Maple not due to the name on the label but because we like the plant we are seeing. Any variegate is worth having no matter what name it is being called. We can worry later what the correct name of it may be. As far as a book of pics, I think that an accompanying book just showing the growing stages of Maples during the year has become even more imperative than the notions were of doing such a thing was 25 years or so ago. The dilemma we face will be, who do we believe has their Maples pegged properly? I think that a photo-book could be an invaluable instructional tool and perhaps could be the most important, defining area for the Maple Society and others to actively work on. It is long overdue to get some mainstream thinking on what these Maple cultivars are but there will be inherent frustrations that will come about just like they have in the past 40-50 years when what we learned and know will clash with what others have learned and know. I would just say get over it and get to work. If Maples are a plant that people truly care for they will be more than glad to work together to perpetuate their beloved plant the right way. I no longer do plant ID's in these forums any more. That is a "loser" for me. It is no fun at all when someone asks for help then some of us offer some insight and then find out that after what we wrote them has been absorbed, that the person that asked for help becomes an "expert". It is tough to take most of the time and it has been done to a number of people that I felt bad for when it has happened to them in these forums. Here is a URL to an exceptionally nice Tennyo no hoshi. Be sure to click the link under the image to see two more pictures of this Maple. Look closely at the leaves, not the size of the leaves but the color and the shapes of the leaves. http://www.esveld.nl/htmldia/a/acptnh.htm Jim
It is nice to see you link to the Esveld site, as I have it bookmarked it and try to look there often to answer my qestions--shame I didn't check there on this tree, as my tree only looks similar to the Esveld Tennyo. It is always the appearance of a tree that draws me in, and a shame that so many trees come mislabled--it is nice to take comfort in a name. I bit like the Fireglow I planted in the front yard that turned out to be far from it (and atropurpureum seedling i suppose). More like deception when I bought that one, rather than mislabling. I was finally able to obtain a Fireglow this summer and to put the two next to eachother, well one struggles to identify the similarities. As we all try to be certain of what we have, at least there is comfort in their beauty and an appreciation for the deveristy within the species. I guess I'll have to be extra careful before I send a label with that scion wood:) Thanks for all your help.
Well hi all, I've finally gotten around to posting some pics of my Mystery Maple with fall colors. It's displayed some very interesting fall habit. For most of the leaves the light green areas have turned either red or gold in color, but the medium green areas remained green. Some leaves displayed three colors at once. Some leaves had bi or tricoloration but also had a reddish overcast to them. These leaves were probably the ones that received the most direct sun while at the nursery I bought it from. Eventually most if not all the leaves turned a beautiful gold color over the entire leaf then quickly dried after a few days. The tree is still very healthy and I'm planning on repotting it soon. I can't wait till spring! Best, Layne Uyeno
Re: Need Help IDing This Japanese Maples Hi, I'm going to jump in here with an ID'ing question, if that's okay. Does anyone know if there is a way to tell Crimsom Queen from Garnet? I planted two early in my ***. maple aquisition when I wasn't too worried about names. Now eight or so years later I have two beautiful trees and I don't know which is which. If anyone can help me on this I would be grateful. Thanks. Kay Dye
Hi all, Here are some new updates for this unusual tree taken 7/05. This year the habit is a bit different to say the least. Most of the new branches are fairly short but it's putting out three long shoots that are over 2 1/2ft. and going! The first two pics taken without flash show the colors almost true with the light green variegation on medium green. The pics with flash came out a bit on the yellow side. At first I thought maybe this year I was seeing less variegation, but after looking at my Butterfly putting out more cream color this year I'm thinking what I'm actually seeing is *more* variegation. More of the leaves are the light green color all over. Some leaves have the variegation I saw last year. But some leaves have the medium green on the *outside* of the lobes instead. There's a bunch of leaves that appear to be *normal* looking with no variegation and no unusual shape to them. I don't have springtime pics, but for the most part the variegated leaves come out light green and slowly the medium green portions fades in. Some of the dead dry leaves you may see in the pics are from last fall when the leaves changed and then dried on the branches. It's not from any burning this season. In fact, this maple has shown little burning. I really should snip those dead leaves off. This maple never ceases to amaze me... Layne
Your new tree certainly looks like a Tennyo no hoshi. One difference between Tennyo and Ao kanzashi is the Tennyo will develop pink margins, especially when exposed to the sun.
