Olsen's Frosted Strawberry

I am hoping a DG member has one of these more rare JM in their garden and can share their experiences re this unique plant.

i have one rouge21 - it has only been in ground a couple years - seems hardy - have not seen the great color yet, might be because it is in shade for most of the day.

Thanks "wha". I understand it is incredibly slow growing. I am curious as to how big was it as a bought plant in its container when you first got it.

Do you have any picture of it from this past summer?

it was about 3.5' tall when purchased - i think it was a 3 gallon tree or maybe 5 gallon, would have to dig out the email's to be sure. I to find a picture for you.

Well it is not a fully branched out tree and they are supposed to get 6' tall after 10 years.

btw - could not find a photo from this past spring.

well mine is close to 4' now although i do have it staked.

I would love to have this JM but in my search for this variety in my area and even beyond I have had no success locating one.

Olsens is a very cool plant but i don't think staking it is the best way to grow it . Alhough thats just my opinion, They should not be put in full sun although mine made it til this unbelievably hot summer .. it colored nicely . As with most JM's you need to give them enough sun to color but not too much.. I really don't think most JM's are full sun trees except in certain areas like Oregon or northern areas that have micro climates and possibly cooler mountain areas, and areas like Boston Michigan etc near bodies of water but not to cold in winter to grow them. Most will do fine in spring and fall with allot of sun but look like crap mid summer. Olsens grown without staking are very cool but are slow growers. They are available by a few specialty retailers mostly in small sizes although I think you can find larger ones. AS with all Jms hgt means little . As Bill implied a taller little branched tree is not what anyone should be looking for although thats often what you find or a small stick. Always look for fullness and caliper.. age is also less important since most sellers lie about that or exaggerate. Also looking for the cheapest price is a real bad way to collect ..you get most often what you pay for remember these are not mass produced products like shirts, pants or flat screens .. those are the products that are standardised and price shopping makes sence .. Jms are not assembled in China

That would make them Chinese Maples anyway.^_^

good points david - my olsten might look familiar to you :) - it was not a stick tree, just was not overly branched out - the height is more from staking it which was done only for winter protection after having lost so many branches from the Oct. 11 snow storm we hadon many jm's here - i just wanted to make it more vertical than horizontal to withstand a heavy snow - it will stay staked for a couple years until the caliper looks strong enough - may have to think about moving it a bit to get more sun