Hello - I’ve spotted both of these cultivars locally, am interested in any thoughts..They appear similar.. Would you choose one over the other or are they both worthy of a spot in the collection? Mr Maples pic of Sekka shows a strange branch growth cross section, rather than rounded profile, it appears oddly shaped a bit like Miss Piggy.. The Sekka in my local shop looks like a regular rounded cross section so I wonder if it’s Sekka at all!
Following. I have both, but didn't have Sekka for a full season yet. My impression is they're very different, both in port and leaf shape, with Mikawa being much longer lobed and with a bonsai-like port -- though it can get pretty big, as usual the "yatsubusa" part is to be taken with some salt. I don't think Sekka has any fasciation like Miss Piggy normally.
To be honest both of the cultivars are like chalk and cheese really when it comes to their appearance, the only thing they have in common is the "yatsabusa" name at the end. Have both of these at present and wouldn't be without either of them. The Sekka is very plain during most of the year , but usually they have a very interesting spring trait in where the ends of the branches become very fasciated where it looks like someone has bashed the ends of the branch and flattened them out with a mallet , then you will see a huge mass of new red budding not uncommon to see 20/30 new buds growing in a 3"space very unusual. Will stay a plain green leaf through out the year , nothing spectacular until the fall then WOW !!! This is one of the last trees to colour out in fall and will go well into December before dropping entirely. Dependent on the amount of sun it receives you will see various colours ranging from deep scarlet reds with orange undertones , or yellows but with slight red tones. A stunner with amazing colour range. Added a pic of mine last year just going into it's fall change tended to see a more yellow/orange last year. But beware this tree if ground planted will soon grow into a very large tree , mine is well over eight foot by 5 foot now , will probably need a good cut back though this year.
Thank you for all this info..much appreciated..if only spring growth shows the fasciated profile that explains why this one I saw last week was not. I spotted the unusual dense budding on the Mr Maple photo
Go into photo gallery section Sekka Yatsabusa page 1 thread #22 you will see my tree from a few years back with all of the spring leaf and various colour tones. Buying no more trees !! yeah ok all been there. Bought two so far this year. :)
You have a great specimen there..I think I’ve seen the penultimate photo previously looking through the archive..it looks like it’s on fire..fantastic oranges and yellows!
I just looove when people use words like "penultimate" (Fr. : pénultième, from Latin "paene" , almost + "ultima/us/um", last). But I opened the page (Acer palmatum 'Sekka yatsubusa') and I'm not sure what you meant by "the one before the last one"... Could you copy/paste the photo?
I had a Sekka Yatsubusa that unfortunately died last year. It does have the fascination at the end of the branches like Miss Piggy. The shape is nothing like Mikawa. While the fall color of Sekka is beautiful it most of the time looks like any other green JM.
