Yours truly got in his first maple order of the season today. And the second order is on its way! Yes, folks, its time to call the guys in the white coats to come 'round to my place before its too late!! OK, it already IS too late - who am I kidding?!? First order (EastFork): A.p. 'Aratama' A.p. 'Geisha Gone Wild' A.s. 'Autumn Moon' (a medium sized one) A.s. 'Palmatifolium' Second order (Topiary Gardens): A.j. 'Emmett's Pumpkin' A.j. 'Lovett' A.p. 'Alpine Silver Thread' A.p. 'Alpine surprise' A.p. 'Autumn Glory' A.p. 'Barbara' A.p. 'Hiryu' A.p. 'Hiyuga yama' A.p. 'Koto Maru' A.p. 'Matsu Kaze' A.p. 'Mirte' A.p. 'Ogi Nagashi' A.p. 'Oranges n' Lemons' A.p. 'Pixie' A.p. 'Pung kil' A.p. 'Sunset' A.p. 'Tiny Tim' A.p. 'Wendy' A.p. 'Yughue' A.p.d. 'Arto' A.p.d. 'Diana's Gem' A.p.d. 'Ellen' A.p.d. 'Felice' A.s. 'Green Flag' I also have a Back Order with Essence for A.p. 'Ryu sei' and A.si. 'Sode no uchi' , which should come sometime in the next month I guess. In addition I got 100 more green understock for grafting from Heritage, and Diana is sending me 20 red understock so I can graft some of my reds onto red. Assuming I don't mess anything up, that will bring the total grafts to 195. I'm running out of room in the Studio...but I think I like running out of room! :-) NOTE: All you guys on the West Coast should really give Topiary Gardens a try for your unusual stuff. Diana has things no one else in the country carries (she can get cultivars from Europe), and her quality and shipping are top notch. She can now ship to the West Coast, so I would encourage you to give her a try this year. ------------------------------------- Here's a couple of pics. From left to right - 'Geisha GW', 'Palmatifolium', 'Autumn Moon', and on the second step 'Aratama'. You can see in the second pic 'Aratama' is already starting to push. Will have to keep an eye on that little guy...
Whew that is quite a list my friend, how many will this put you to? Btw I noticed you had 'Ryu sei' listed for the back order, and I feel like I should remind everyone that the importers are saying it should be 'Ryusen', assuming we are talking about the palmate weeper. I think you will love aratama...it is my favorite spring dwarf. It gets surpassed in the summer by shaina (and a few others probably) IMO, but in spring it is brilliant at my house. I also see felice is listed from topiary, I will have to give Diana a look because I've been looking for that funky little variety for a while now. I don't remember seeing it in the fall, it must be a new addition.
Thanks for the clarifications Matt. I'll have to make sure I change the name in my database. It sure would be nice if everyone used the same name! I think this last order puts me right at 250 cultivars. My biggest challenge is clearing forest and creating beds so they have a home! 1/2 are still in pots. I just got 3 huge tandem-loads of top soil delivered this week, so I should have a little raw material for a bed or two! And yes, Felice is a new one. It pays to talk to Diana early and get her your wish list. Sometimes she only has a few grafts of the rare cultivars. And this year some of the REALLY rare ones that were on my list got destroyed before she could get them to me. Some varmits got into one of her cold-storage houses and ate about 20 of the grafts right down to the soil, including my 'Aka shisihi gosan' and 'Elizabeth'. I have a new great-niece named Elizabeth, so I was especially disappointed that one got chewed up. I took the 'Aratama' into the Studio since it was already pushing and they're calling for temps in the 20s this weekend (and snow tonight). I'm going to let if leaf out early as a special spring treat, and keep it in the Stuidio when its frosty out. Just a few more weeks and we'll be frost-free here!! Can't wait! :)
Kaitain4 Have you ever tried our local native, Acer circinatum (Vine Maple)? According to Wikipedia it will grow just about anywhere. It's multi trunked and runs in color from yellow to red. I grew up just 1/2 mile south of Sea Tac airport and it was all over the place. Such a bright addition to fall color. Barbara Lloyd
Barbara, Yes, indeed, I have a number of A. circinatums, including: A.c. 'Monroe' A.c. 'Pacific Fire' A.c. 'Pacific Sprite' A.c. 'Sunglow' A.c. 'Sunny Sister' A.c. 'Glen Del' and A.c. 'Little Gem' are on my wish list for this year. A.c. 'Pacific Fire' is undoubtedly the reddest-stemmed plant in my entire garden. It is just an just an amazing, glowing red. I have it planted in front of an A.p. 'Aoyagi' (bright green bark), and I'm hoping as they mature it will make a stunning contrast. My other favorite is A.c. 'Sunny Sister'. I've been to SeaTac airport and Seattle many, many times. I've spent almost 2 weeks of every month for the past 3 years out there. I should be there in a couple of weeks, actually. The Seattle area is one of my favorite places - just beautiful!
Hey K4, If i get time I will call you again. This winter has me really wanting to talk maples. I have a specimen sharps pygmy coming in from essence of the tree. Topiary list includes: Beni komo no uso Elizabeth Murogumo Murakuma Deshojo Every Autumn Fascination Hupp's Dwarf Johin Koto hime Margaret tiny leaf Crimson Princess Kasen Nishiki Lady's choice Mirte Yezo nishiki Giant Moon Krautz
My 'pacific fire' hasn't faired too well down here in the south, the leaves get burnt up really easily in a container. Therefor I have been hesitant to try any more of them, especially the colored leaf varieties like sunglow and sunny sister. I planted the pacific fire out this fall in deep shade to see if it improves. On my specimen the new growth is a brilliant orange red, and then it gets a grayish cast which lessens the brightness compared to a sango kaku or beni kawa. However, on the older stems it changes to a yellowish orange tone similar to japanese sunrise. I also think the larger stems looks better than the small twiggy stems of the palmatums. Beautiful this time of year. I am also curious of pacific fire's resistance to pseudomonas. We have a time down here with it, and I wonder if it is hardier. Any one have any info on this? This winter I acquired a large monroe that had been damaged and will try it out, it seemed to burn less at the nursery than my pacific fire does. Sorry to get off topic a little.
Krautz, By all means, give me a buzz! You list for Diana looks very nice!! Let me know what you think of Fascination. I've been thinking about that one for a while. I got a Giant Moon last fall and I can't wait to see it leaf out! I love the Japonicums! Matt, I planted mine in morning sun, afternoon shade. They seemed to do fine in pots last summer, but I got them late in the season (August). Maybe a whole summer of heat will be different. I don't anticipate anything terrible because they seemed to do OK in the August heat.
K4 "I think this last order puts me right at 250 cultivars." Remarkable collection. Did you acquire all those in the past year? My only Spring additions are the AP 'Koriba' & AJ ' Kujaki nishiki' that I ordered last year and maybe a graft or two made this season.
I just got a sharps from essence and was very pleased. Cute little tree in the "instant bonsai" category. Unfortunately deer skinned off a piece (weird, at this size they usually just take bites, but there was some rub on this little guy) - I hope will heal over fine.
Poetry, Yes, except for Bloodgood, Sangu kaku, and a Crimson Queen, all have been purchased since Feb. 12, 2008. I suppose this puts me in the "pathetically obsessed" category?? I ordered 10 more today: A.p. 'Fascination' A.p. 'Emperor' A.p. 'Werner's Pagoda' A.p. 'Kotohime' A.p. 'Aka sishi gosan' A.p. 'Elizabeth' A.p. 'Emma' A.p. 'Koriba' A.p. 'Tai hai' A.p. 'Tsukuba ne' There is no cure, I'm afraid....
Yeah, in about 10 years you definitely will be able to charge admission! On other note, how are you (or are you) organizing your pictures? I am trying to document the growth of my cultivars for any interested. I am not too technically savvy, and imagine it would involve a blog. Ideally it would be: 1) publically accessible to all 2) Sortable by multible albums: eg, cultivar, season, color, spring/fall interest 3) Reliable and free - I don't want to put all my pics on some startup that goes belly under or charges money if your don't buy pictures (eg. snapfish) I guess the closest example would be Barbaras excellent maple blog: http://www.mapledia.blogspot.com/ while I love her site, I don't want to just copy it either Does anybody else know of any blogging software made specifically for showcasing gardens/trees? (I certainly intend to keep adding to the photo galleries here, but I know they want to keep things to a reasonable limit)
Paxi, That's a great thought, but I haven't come up with an answer yet. To start with I need a better camera. Mine doesn't do close-ups all that well. I think a Blog is the only way to make one available to the public without creating a whole new web site devoted to it.
Paxi, I love this is a great tree. I made it the center piece of one of my shade gardens. My current tree is about 3x3 with a 2 1/2 inch caliper. Pic1 is sharps I hope you enjoy the others. Krautz
Hi Paxi, A blog is definitely an easy way to start with and it pretty much meets your criteria. If you are interested, go to my Yahoo blog: http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!leJCPxyCFR6Dxjh0nRaeqiAAHjxTxg--/archive?l=f&id=6 On the left hand side, I group my plants into Japanese flowering cherries, Japanese maples and others, of course you can organize your photos by Acer groups, cultivars etc…. As a newbie, I use it as my gardening diary to track interesting activities and plant growth. A blog is easy to use, reliable, maintenance free and cost free. It provides a vehicle to communicate with others and something you can caress in the winter time. Good Luck, Joe BTW my blog is written in Chinese and you may find it difficult to read, but hey! you've got the idea!
Poetry, Your spring additions will be great. My Koriba was originally back-ordered from Topiary but she found some more, so its coming. Have not seen 'Kujaku nishiki' offered here. May I ask where you got yours from? I'm also looking for A.s. 'Jordan', A.p. 'Nathan', and A.p. 'Collingwood Ingram', among others. Paxi, Love your 'Sharps'!! Its one of the best, I think...
oh no, that is krautz' sharps - it is one of the best and thanks for sharing. Mine needs a special lens just to find it at this stage ! Thanks joe to for sharing, alway nice to have more examples
I posted last night while looking through some pics. Today, the whole yard is covered in white. I know we will have color in 5 weeks. Krautz
Went out and purchased a baker's dozen of maples yesterday A. japonicum O isami A. palmatum Akita yatsubusa Berrima bridge Fairy Hair Goshiki kotohime Green hornet Higasa yama Kasagi yama Red cloud Tama hime Tattoo Yure hime A. shirasawanum Autumn moon I'm running out of space for my trees, but my "wanted" list just keeps growing.
Sasquatch, That is a great list. Was that an online purchase or local nursery. My favortie in that group is yuri hime. Good Luck, Krautz
Purchased at Greer Gardens, my local nursery. It's nice to live in the Willamette Valley! Yure hime is my favorite also (The Fairy hair is awesome, but will need a few years) It was in the greenhouse, and so it is already leafing out. I hope today's snowy weather won't do any damage.
If you get a chance please post a pic of your yuri hime in the photo gallery. There seems to be a good deal of confusion as to what this tree looks like! : http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=7115&highlight=yuri+hime
