in the ground...that is the question. Hi, I am sure that many of you may have been faced with the same dilemma and may have come up with a solution or at least come up with a compromise. I currently have all my maples in containers. I started my maple collection about 4 years ago and have about 35 trees, from 1 gallon to 20 gallon. I have kept them in containers since I wanted to carry them with me whenever I moved (which has happened twice in the last 4 years). I have them in the root grow bags that look ugly as sin. I have a small backyard, and currently it has only my maple trees except for two bradford pear trees that provide some shade. Needless to say the backyard looks terrible, especially in winter when the maples have no leaves. Ideally I would like to keep the maples in their containers, and plant enough companion plants around them to keep the focus off the containers. I have bought some nice looking containers, but given the size of the yard, the only thing that draws your focus are the containers. I may have to plant some of them in the ground (I hate to do this and have to leave them behind when I move next), atleast that will reduce the number of containers. any ideas? thanks, xman
xman ,my idea is planted ,the "common" maples that you have ;for ex.sango kaku,or butterfly,or Oridono nishiki...so maples easy to find in commerce!when you change home ,is not difficult find this maples....alex p.s. of course if you have only rare maples sooorryyyy....
Go ahead and plant them - dig them up and take them with you if you move. JMs are easy enough to transplant, however, as a fellow Dallasite I strongly suggest you build raised beds with non-native soil. Aside from being more JM friendly, you probably don't want to mess with trying to dig trees out of clay when it's time to move them. Another alternative is to re-plant them in larger containers (to give them some growing room) and plant the containers. That'll work too as long as you address potential drainage issues of burying the containers in the clay soil.
Alex, good idea! at least for a start I am going to plant some trees that I have 2 of a kind. Blake, I can try the raised bed for the smaller trees I have. A raised bed of 12 inches can support most of my one and two gallon trees. I am growing them in root bags, so I can bury the root bag in the raised bed. thanks. xman
Xman, I do not know if this helps but in Europe the reference for maples in containers is in Belgium. M.Choteau is a specialist maple grower and nurseryman and holds the Belgian national Japanese maple collection: All his maples are in pots because, I was told, the soil in his area is infected with verticillium. Some of them are more than 15 years old and they are all beautiful looking. Being in pots allows him to take some of them to shows and expositions. So, the message is: keep them in pots if you wish. Gomero
Xman, Blake's idea looks promising. I just will add that bury half of the pots in ground (mounded) and cover the rest of it with mulch in order to hide the top. In this way it will look like the JMs are planted in raised beds, an later will be very easy to relocate. I used this method with some of my JMs, and until now is working pretty well. Only some things to keep in mind: The container's bottom must be over the natural soil level (NOT in the clay soil) and make some lateral holes in the container (over the area to be "covered-grounded) in the raise bed to secure a good drainage and Check soil moisture (finger test) frecuently. Good luck! Nelran.
