Lozita Lover

Hello, two years ago, my husband and I took a long drive out in the country. Happened upon a Japanese Maple nursery! We really weren't looking to buy anything. Well, I wandered through FIVE greenhouses full of JM's, and there, in the corner, was not the nicest seedling, not the most distinguished color or leaf, and certainly not the best shape. But it called to me. So I picked it up, carried it to the owner, who sat down at his bench and proceeded to fuss with pruning it a bit, and at the same time said" "Oh, you like this one because it is Lozita." Huh? All I knew is that I could not put her down. Plain and simple.
This was our first "plant" purchase as husband and wife. And boy was it expensive! $75.00 for a little thing, about 11" tall and VERY slender....YIKES! But there she was, and out came my husband's wallet...
This spring, "LuLu" as we have named her, is a serious little tree! She sits in her own manufactured hill, surrounded with pine bark chips and quartz rocks, and has put on such a growth...wow! She is as dark as my ornamental plum, and that shape is turning out to be a natural bonsai shape! She is supposed to top out at 8-12 feet.
Had some deer try to eat her in the winter, and was very upset at the non-professional pruning, especially as I had to go over the deer chomps with pruners as deer's saliva has a non-growth enzyme...did you know this?
Well, we love her. She even has a bit of shade! I'd say she has grown about two inches and a TON more limbs have shot out from her once-spindly trunk...it is now as big as my little finger. I'd say pretty good for two years!

pictures?

had not heard about the deer and the non-growth ensyme - explains why a couple have not grown where they were a late winter snack two years ago.

Interesting--I never heard that about deer saliva either. Do you remember where you read/heard that? It doesn't make sense to me from an evolutionary perspective--since deer rely on plants for food, it seems that it would be counterproductive to their survival if their saliva made the plants grow back slower after they were munched--it would be more advantageous to the deer population if the plant grew back quickly so it could be munched again sooner. Not saying it couldn't be true, it just doesn't make sense to me.

ecrane3 i did a google search and found on garden blog that mentioned this after a lot of searching - i am still sceptical since it did not pop up immediately and with all the deer problems people have i would think it would have been common knowledge by now.

Gracye where did you learn of this and is there a link you can direction us too?

Hello, I do not know how to post pictures! Sorry! About the deer saliva, my local nurseryman told me about this. I have to tell you, where I missed pruning after where the deer ate, the maple has NOT grown back. So, this seems to tell the tale, at least for me...

I think that there are bugs that leave a chemical trail, too, and it is counter-productive to growth...anyone know about this?

Here is my beloved Lozita - we bought and planted her 1 1/2 years ago.

nice!