I will try to post pictures of my unusual griseum seedling for (almost) every day of its development this spring on a weekly basis. Last picture is a typical seedling. Apr 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, last- typical griseum Apr 16 If the colors follow what happened in its first year, they will transition pink > apricot > pink > green.
I believe it is a hybrid, because of features at the terminal bud. It appears to have either a very short internode or terminal bud scar between the terminal bud and the axillary buds (right photo). In a typical griseum (left) this is absent. if this little thing survives, it will take years to see if the bark is exfoliating and what color the flowers are (pink, white, cream or yellow).
Meanwhile, in this year’s batch of new griseum seedlings, there is a very different unusual one with iridescent dark plum/burgundy/purple color (bottom). The top one is a typical normal color seedling.
Future rootstock. They are incredibly forgiving for transplanting at this stage. They can be plucked out from under the mother tree without any digging, and even if the main root breaks (all that is needed are 3 to 5 mm of white root tissue that remains attached) they are fine when potted in ordinary garden soil/dirt.
Back to the unusual seedling, here is an example of what difference the light makes in taking pictures of hard to capture colors. First two pictures are taken the same day, but the first one shortly after sunrise and the second one in the early afternoon with direct sunlight. While the strong direct sun certainly enhances the colors, the colors are more true at sunrise. Hence, I take these photos at that time of day. Apr 19 (6:15 am), Apr 19 (1:45 pm), Apr 20 (shortly after sunrise)
Good morning Nik, photo 2 has a look of Brilliantissimum colouring. But you are right, in that different times of the day and a lot of acers look so completely different. Time will tell, as others have mentioned if it turns out to be unique.
The stem and bark appear different from normal. Stem is half the length of a normal seedling, but twice the thickness. The color of the bark is much lighter and grey-ish. Although both unusual and normal seedlings show fissures at the base (arrows). In three more years it will be obvious if the bark is exfoliating like in the older seedling in the last picture. [Emery, I loved your A griseum photo in the Maples Spring 2024 thread.]
Disaster ! A chipmunk living in the rocks next to my seedling pots has done a lot of damage last evening. I woke up to see plenty of things dug up and numerous seedlings chewed up (the most annoying part is that the leaves are not eaten, just severed). My precious griseum seedling also got it, it lost one of its leaves. I promptly covered all pots with chicken wire. I don’t have a greenhouse, so this solution of the problem works well. D, you are right that the colors look like ‘Brilliantissimum’. The leaves emerge bright coral pink and keep that color for few days. Then they transition to soft pink/apricot and after a couple of weeks they become green. I suspect the green will be lighter than usual. My plan for this seedling is the following: * Transplant it in the ground in late fall, next to the house so we can see the new leaves in spring from inside. * Protect it well from chipmunks, rabbits and deer (all big problems in our yard). * Observe it for the next few years and see if the bark is exfoliating. * If it is, attempt to graft it on normal griseum seedlings. I am not experienced in grafting, so I will do approach grafting, it seems that the method is much more forgiving. * If successful, I will contact arboreta or botanical gardens to see if they are interested in housing this interesting variety of Acer griseum. If they are not, then I have to find someone else to take it/them. As you said D, time will tell… (I guess I wouldn’t have more pictures to upload to this thread this year.)
Such a shame to hear this Nik. But nature does what it does I'm afraid. Glad you are able to protect the interesting griseum seedling. It's now a long waiting game as ever with seedlings. I'm sure you will post updates on the forum over the coming years. I will look forward to reading and seeing the photos Good Luck...
Thank you, D! Yes, I agree about Nature. I have come to rely heavily on local predators to keep the numbers of chipmunks and rabbits in check, but it seems physical barriers are also needed. (Sorry about the blurry pictures, but I thought you and others might enjoy them. From last summer and fall.) I will post more next spring if the seedling survives. Perhaps it will be a thread that also includes the griseum seedling with iridescent dark plum newly emerging leaves. Thanks again!
Alain (@AlainK ), it’s a bobcat. A bit smaller than lynx. They are gorgeous animals and yes, very difficult to photograph… even though we see them often. The baby bobcats are very cute. Sometimes, they happen to pose for the wildlife camera on our deck.
There appears to be some sort of variegation. What is the general rule for variegated maples? More or less sun? I have noticed that Shirazz and especially ‘Ukigumo’ show much more variegation in deep shade, but I do not know what is the behavior of other species of variegated maples. Currently I have it in full sun almost all day. I wonder if I should move it to a shaded spot.
I have found that the lighter coloured variegated maples do better in some shade N. They will burn quite easily in a lot of sun. The darker reds prefer a bit more sun in my garden.
What I thought was a normal seedling in the same pot as the variegated one may also turn out to be something special. Initially I was thinking that it was sunburned, but the variegated one is not and there doesn’t seem to be any physical damage to the leaves. It looks very different from an older seedling that leafed out much later and is already past the dark leaves phase (last picture).
