I took the opportunity of the last sunny evening before days of rain/showers (rain started tonight) to take a photo of 'Momoiro Koya San'. Pity the spring colours don't last very long.
Alain, I find the spring color of the Momoiro so incredibly striking. I've gone back to see your other photo several times now, so I'm glad to see you posting another one. I might have to add it to our backyard collection.
Ha ha,you'd be forgiven for thinking so Alain but that is the actual price.They have plenty of other dissectums that are £700+ and are much taller and wider than this one....but as the lady who was also admiring it said,she's got 30year old maples in her garden but none with anywhere near this girth...it's an old plant obviously but it's a hell of a price tag.
Houzi, have you tried the garden centre at Wisley, last time I visited they had some real nice large specimens of some of the more unusual cultivars at reasonable prices. Well worth a visit as they stock a wide range, cultivars and sizes.
I haven't actually John.I often go around visiting gardens so seeing the RHS one there would also make it a great day out.Thanks for the tip :)
If you visit, when in the garden centre besides where the main section is with the smaller Japanese maples for sale, make sure you look in the corner besides this area, you will see quite a selection of larger maples in very large pots. They have many more cultivars than the usual garden centres. It's a good day out, worth the drive and besides various cafes there's a nice restaurant and a very comprehensive horticultural book shop. We visited Sheffield park gardens in Surrey last week and they had some outstanding maples planted in the grounds.
Well I'll definately pay it a visit my next week off in May.I'll search out the larger ones but trouble is I don't have the useful spacious car I used to have(could get 7ft trees in it) so will have to limit the size accordingly. Oh I love Sheffield Park Roebuk,it just has a natural look about it away from the main lake near the house. Off topic a bit but I went there last autumn...or maybe the one before,yes they have quite a few maples,I'm sure you saw this one and this Bald Cyprus looked absolutely stunning(have to thank Ron for the ID ha ha)
When we visited Sheffield Park, we also took in Nymans which again has a few mature Japanese maples, there was a beautiful Katsura which caught my eye. We did notice the maple you pictured at Sheffield. I took a drive up to the arboretum at Westonbirt last autumn just to take in the mature maples in their Autumn glory. I've tried to germinate seedlings this year, followed the advice on stratification, been around 110 days with no germination, yet when walking around the garden there's plenty of seedlings which have germinated naturally. I guess nature knows best. John
Ah,was going to Nymans last year but horrific hold ups on route caused me to abandon it.Still have yet to make it to Westonbirt but I still have it to look forward to:) Same here with the seeds at the moment....euonymus seeds have germinated in the fridge but not the maples yet but the ones in the seed trays outside are coming on nicely.I reckon it must've been a less stressful winter this year John as the profuse flowering (which was followed by so many seeds) last year hasn't happened.
John ..Have noticed some of my seeds in the fridge are just starting to show signs of life fingers crossed for these, also noticed a couple of new spring growths one in the nicholsonii container, out of all the JMs last year this had the most seeds absolutely covered , and the other one in the Shishigashira container,hopefully these will progress. Have just spent the last hour moving alot of the little guys back into the workshop,bad weather forecast for us over the next couple of days going to be a very cold night tonight and possibilities for snow on tues/weds. Moved my Ariadne and my Peaches and cream which is just on the verge of bursting,not losing these two for anything,the peaches and cream looks especially good this season,it's going to have some nice colours.
That's a fair few seedlings popping up. I love Ariadne and agree on the colours on Peaches and cream. I've grown mine on from a 1 year graft, it went in the ground last Autumn and looks stunning in its new home, now has a bit more shade than before. I've taken my seed out of the fridge now, hoping it might kick start germination. Houzi, I've got some maples such as Oregon sunset which are loaded with flowers so might be a good year for seed down here. If you make it to Westonbirt they have a garden centre that not surprisingly has a very extensive selection of Japanese maples. Chris Pattison is not far away either and specialises in Japanese Maples. John
Er, it's "bald cypress", not Cyprus ;-) (Taxodium distichum). Plenty "exotic" trees were planted here in parks over a century ago, and like Ginkgo biloba, Sequioa sempervirens, Sequoiadendron giganteum, etc. such big trees are again planted as street trees, on wide avenues or by the riverside. Some Taxodium in the park of "Chateau de la Ferté St Aubin" seem to be very old, they have a girth of at least 1m50 and produce plenty of pneumatophores (Cypress knee) since they're by a pond. But maples are also becoming popular: in one of the main streets of Orléans, there are big ones in big wooden containers, Acer ginnala, Acer buergerianum, and a couple of other similar species I haven't really identified.
There are a lot of Norway maples (platanoides) planted everywhere in Normandie as street trees, I'm not sure why as they never seem to colour well. There are many in the streets around the Place des Fetes in Paris (19) where they are very pretty in spring when flowering, but quite blah otherwise. A local Intermarche (big supermarket) planted A. cappidocicum 'Aureum' throughout the parking lot, which surprised me; unfortunately they haven't been cared for and are quite scraggly, possibly they resent the hot asphalt over their roots. Here are some more spring pictures: the entire 'Mirte', which was quite badly deer damaged perhaps 10 years ago but now more or less recovered; 'Beni tsukasa' leafing out and the very show A. platanoides 'Drummondii', a pair of which rise above the unkempt (unkemptable?) Berberis x stenophylla.
Pic 1 Murasaki Kiyohime 21/04/15 same tree today after last nights frost!!! ,this year was the best that iv'e seen it, just starting to show the red edgings looked nice while it lasted will recover nicely though. Glad i moved some of the young grafts and others just at the bursting stage last night,only seems to have affected this one though? glorious sunny day today though lots of weeding done :) Another cold one tonight snow over the Pennines and very windy tomorrow so lets see if it can blow the rest of my Tulips away!! ,emery lovely Mirte mines just about out now love the chocolate leaves.
I really love your Beni hagoromo pic, Alain. I'm so glad I bought one of these last fall. How old / tall is your tree? My first circinatum arrived on Friday from Bonsaibob on eBay. It's 'Sunny Sister'. What should I watch out for with this type of maple? I've read on one thread here that the heat and humidity of our summers here won't be ideal for the tree, but the spring show sure is worth it as long as I can keep her alive. She'll be sited in high, dappled shade throughout the day with no direct sun. Kevin in KC
My apologies,showing my ignorance again.I remember trying to commit the common name to memory as I'd easily forget Taxodium but failed miserably :)
Funny I can only remember about half the maples in the garden now, and most people are still impressed by that. I wonder what that says about my level of conversation the rest of the time! ;) Kevin, 'Sunny Sister' looks like a dead ringer for 'Sunglow.' If so, you are right to keep it in the shade, but beware of gray mildew. 'Sunglow' is very prone, as is the circinatum species, at least here. -E
Here are a few photos I took this afternoon: A. p. 'Beni hoshi' A. p. 'Mikawa yatsubusa' (2) A. p. 'Tsukushigata ' (2) A. p. 'Shishigashira' A. p. 'Sister ghost' A. p. 'Shin deshojo' A. p. 'Red Pygmy'
Another pics :) http://politicacerierockroll.blogspot.it/2015/05/maples-spring-2015-part-two.html?view=classic Acer palmatu Tess,Acer griseum Golden Lucky
Acer palmatum 'Tess' looks spectacular, and very original with the light-green midveins and the colours of the lobes from dark green to bronze-red. I couldn't find but a couples of references on the internet, but with no photos. Apparently Esveld don't have it, Maillot don't have it, and it isn't listed in the latest edition of Vertrees and Gregory. Is it possible that it is known under another name? Where did you get it? Do they ship to France? ;°) I want one! Oh my, another addiction that's getting worse and worse...
Apologies for the bombardment, lol. First pic is Ariadne; a smaller one (2' maybe?), only in the ground 1 year. Many of the leaves are more jagged, with only a few that look 'normal' for the cultivar. Is this another one that has odd-shaped leaves on new growth, then settles down? It had a few nice branches, but one of the d**n tree rats decided to prune two of them off down to the trunk last year. Second pic is English Lace, a new upright red dissectum from Mr. Maple. So far, growing true to form and keeping the red color fairly well, though we've not been terribly hot, nor for extended periods, yet. Kuro hime is really growing on me; I bought one late last fall from Dallas Bonsai, and then got another as a free plant in with an order from Conifer Kingdom. At first I though, do I really need two? The answer is becoming, why yes, yes I do. :) Murakumo... I don't know if anyone can truly have one favorite tree, but this one is definitely in my top five. The leaves really are that pale, I love it. The tree is over 6' tall, but spindly as it was used as a donor tree for scion before I got it. I can't wait to see what it will look like fully branched and filled out.
Acer palmatum Tess is select by Dick van der Maat http://www.dvandermaat.nl/wp/introducties-japanse-esdoorns/ http://www.dvandermaat.nl/wp/