New nursery find for japanese maples in Los Gatos

In my search for japanese maples, I decided to visit a nursery I've never been to before--Sakamoto Plants. I just wanted to let everyone in the area know what a fabulous place this is. I could have spent all day there, looking at the maples, dogwoods, and other plants and trees.

One of the staff members there spent about 20 minutes showing me around the place and describing the attributes of all the maples he thought might work for my site. They had a wonderful collection of common and uncommon maples, and they know everything about them. Not to mention all the other plants on site, like bamboo, vines, and evergreens.

I told my husband he was lucky I've never been there before, or they would already have a lot of our money. LOL

The image is of Acer Japonicum 'Aureum'.

This one is Acer Aconitifolium, known as the Dancing Peacock. I wish the lighting hadn't been so bright for the pictures.

Uh, address of this Sakamoto Plants please! What else do they carry?

Hey Sue, Sakamoto Plants is at 15567 Camino Del Cerro, Los Gatos, 95030. They are only open 9-5pm, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

A web site I found said they sell "a wide range of beautiful maples, stategly white and black pines, dozens of different bamboos, proteas, dogwoods, katsuras, viburnums, and much more." I saw perennials and shrubs there too. I would say that they have mainly plants for shade and forested areas, but they also have stuff for sun too.

I could have stayed there all day, but alas, didn't have the time to.

How about clematis Tracy??? Did they carry any of those???

I saw at least one clematis, as well as some other vines. I was concentrating on the maples, so I didn't get a chance to take in the whole nursery stock. It looked worthwhile though, even for someone who isn't looking for a tree.

Lilystrom, have checked out Regan's maples? They usually have a huge selection. They are big and pricey though.

I also have been to Japanese Maples by Momiji Nursery in Santa Rosa. They have all sizes. I saw the owner at the Ferry Building a few Sundays ago. She was the only seller of plants at the plant market. It was a dud. LOL. She was very nice but had not brought too many. If you have a chance stop by her place. She and her husband run it.

http://www.google.com/local?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=japanese+maples&near=Santa+Rosa,+CA&sa=X&oi=locald&radius=0.0&latlng=38440556,-122713333,11011278399483834663

Not that far away there is a bonsai nursery in someone's back yard. It is a fun place. I haven't been there in several years easily. I wll try to think of just where. It is in Sebastopol. Oh I am pretty sure this is it:

Lone Pine Gardens, 6450 Lone Pine Road, Sebastopol, CA 95472, Open Thur. Fri. Sat. 10-5 Ret. - Who., (707) 823-5024

Also check out Tyler's Carlmont Nursery in Belmont. They have a huge selection there (not just the usual Bloodgoods and Sango Kaku's) including a 24" box Germaine's Gyration and a 24" box Golden Full Moon (Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum') that's about 9' tall.

I'd love to get a bigger Aureum. I saw one in Berkeley last week in a box size, but it was incredibly expensive. I'll call Carlmont nursery to check on the price. Thanks!

If you're ever up in the wine country, here's one to check out:

http://www.wildwoodmaples.com/home.html

They advertise 300 cultivars and after visiting there, I don't doubt it's accurate.

Thanks for the tip. I see they have the Aureum too, so I'm e-mailing to find out what sizes they have in stock.

I've given up on clematis from nurseries. I only buy from Chalk Hill and Joy Creek right now. Much better selection and I find that they do better in the ground.
Just started a Negritianka and a duchess of albany and they are doing great. You won't find them at a local nursery.

Roger Reynolds nursery in Atherton has over 75 kinds of A. Palmatum. They will special order. Be sure to call ahead though and make sure David is there. No one else knows about the maples. He sort of looks like one, he's been working with them there so long. Knows a lot, very opinionated, great personality. It's worth going just to meet him.

The Dancing Peacock is pretty old and very big. I've kept mine to about 7 feet, but I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do that. Much easier to keep in control than say a sangu kaku. Beautiful trees though. Has one drawback which I think is sort of significant. It doesn't drop it's leaves. You have to take them off by hand. It's a pain. Either that or live with dead old leaves all over the tree. They do fall off in spring when the new foliage comes out. I don't know if Aureum does that. Dancing Peacock is supposed to be a lot easier to grow though. I'm sure glad that I have mine. I've had it in this spot for about 20 years.

I think the one I put in in July is the Dancing Peacock. Is it the Acer Japonicum Aconitifolium?

So far, I really like it, but I didn't realize it didn't cleanly drop its leaves.

Yes, it is Aconitifolium. It's an amazingly beautiful dark dark red in the fall and the new foliage is fabulous. Here it is in April.

And November. Sorry I took your thread off track lily storm. Couldn't help myself.

That is beautiful in the fall. I can't wait.

I really got this one because of the unusual leaf shape and because, when I searched for the plant on DG, I found that many people had cited it on a thread about favorite all-time maples.

I may end of ordering the Aureum from Mountain Maples. They have a good price for older trees and they'll ship. With the price of gas, it doesn't pay to drive all over creation looking for rare plants. (Although, if I had the time, it would sure be fun.)

Lilystorm, be sure to call David at Roger Reynolds first. Their trees are quite reasonable for the age and they won't have either the difficulty of adjusting to a new environment and the shock of shipping. Also David keeps his trees out where they are hardened - not under cover which makes a huge difference in the success of the transplant. He may have the Aureum in shade. I don't know the culivar's needs.

He's generally willing to find you what you need if he doesn't have it. Plus that he's poetic. He says that seedling maples are like stars. No two of them are alike.

The people at MM are great though and if David can't help you - it's a fine alternative.

This is a Beni Fusigi that I splurged on this year. It's a small one and should only get to about 6 feet. That's another thing. David has told me that the sizes on the maples on the net aren't really representative of the sizes that the maples get here. The Aconitifolium will go at least 20 feet he says. He said that the Beni would turn green because of the shade the tree is in. And it did - but it's the perfect size and the new growth is bright red.

The Aureum is a small tree though and should be happy almost anywhere.

Very nice maple. It looks like a good size tree already.

I went ahead and took the plunge with ordering from Mountain Maples last night. They are having a sale right now, although the rarer trees are not discounted as much. The Aureum grows so slowly that there are really no bargains to be had. I contacted one nursery in Belmont who wanted $2000 for their Aureums. Perhaps they are bigger than the specimen trees from Mountain Maples.

I didn't think the Aconitifolium would get quite that tall, but I think it will be ok in the area I put it. It has some room to grow.

Congratulations! No one thinks that the trees are going to get that tall. There a seedling in back of Roger Reynolds that's two stories tall. David said that Japanese Maples weren't really planted here until the 70's so they were having to rely on heights elsewhere. But they can be kept in line to a certain extent.

I'll be interested to hear what shape it's in. By the way, you can get the Protex and the tree food that they sell for much less on other places on the net. I like it very much - but MM charges way too much.

I can't wait until it gets here! You'll have to show us a photo.

Their web site says they ship from October-May, so I'm thinking I'll probably have to wait until the fall to see the tree. It's probably better for the tree to plant then, anyway. (It won't look like much for pictures, though.)

I haven't been feeding my maples with anything. I probably should. I'll take a look at the recommendations on the site and search them out. I never think about special fertilizers, but when I do use them, I can see a difference in my plants.

Protek is very good to avoid leaf burn.

How often are you using the Protekt? It says to apply with every watering which doesn't bide well with a drip system. I would think silicon would clog the emitters?

I use it about every month in the warm season. I couldn't possibly apply it with every watering - but many specialists believe that you shouldn't water A Palmatum that often and would shrink in horror at both of us using a sprinkler system. Although my trees have never suffered from it.

So if you figure that they don't water more than once a week it gets more reasonable. I can't see doing it so often though. During really hot weather it's worth doing more often. Heat spells can be dreadful. I've never had a problem with root rot so I use it more for leaf burn. Every 3 months is what I do if it's not hot. I tend to play it by ear which I'm sure is not the best way to use it. But I do what I can.

I've never had a tree die from leaf burn unless it wasn't hardened properly before planting. I think that root rot is sometimes the bigger problem. I also have a Japanese maple man come and look at mine once a year. It helps me feel more secure.

I have no idea if this helps at all- Let me know if there is anything I'm missing.

Hello to all. I see there has been some discussion about Aureums on this thread and just thought I'd let everyone know that at Tyler's Carlmont Nursery in Belmont we are bringing some in. We are getting five 15 gallon Aureums, two 20 gallon Aureums and one 24" box. They will be here on the 15th of this month.

Our last 24" box Aureum has been sold! It was quite a specimen (picture attached) as I'm sure the next one will be (same grower).

There will be many others coming in also. In and around 300 total including Hogyoku (24" box), Germaine's Gyrations (15 gallon), Ojishi (20g), Goshiki Kotohime (6g), Stella Rosa (6g), Tobiosho (24"), Tsuma Gaki (15 & 20g) and a whole bunch more including the new Twombly's Red Sentinel (6 & 15g).

If you want the whole list let me know and I can get it to you, or just give us a call (ask for Gary) at 650-591-6845.

Thanks!

Beautiful tree Nursery dude. It's lovely just looking at it. Now where could I fit another Japanese Maple? Why I may just have an idea!

That's a really lovely tree, nurserydude. I'll be happy if mine's anything like that one. I wish I could make a trip up to Belmont to look at all those trees you have coming!