Spring color in TX

Here's some pics of my maples. I'm in Denton, Tx and looks like spring is here. We had some temps in the 30's last week but its back to normal.
acer palmatum atrolineare

atrolineare close up

small viridis buds and new growth

viridis "waterfall" w new growth and red flowers

upclose of waterfall

Shantung maple, trunk chopped by a hungry puppy to about 7". Notice the huge leaves in comparison to the trunk size. I think this is a result of reducing the canopy but not the root size. Stored engergy has to go somewhere. I have a red acer palmatum which is doing the opposite. It was extremely root bound when I rescued it from Lowe's last fall. So I trimmed down the roots and cut out several tap roots and left the canopy as is. The red has yet to leaf out but has tiny buds that are starting to open. Lesson learned, I probably should have cut back some of the branches.

A constellation dogwood my wife just had to buy.

Beautiful Toby, what a lovely spring you're having. Sorry about your puppy having your tree for lunch. You might as well choose a leader now although it's probably not a good idea to prune the side growth out until the tree is a little bigger - or maybe I'm wrong? Love the shine on those leaves!

Thanks Doss. I like your acer "butterfly" alot. I had a small one but the cable guy stepped on it and broke the graft off. My pink lace viridis didnt make it through the winter either. I dont know what to do with the Shantung but bonsai seems like a good choice so I'll just leave it be this year and see what happens. I'm thinking of trying some mesquite for bonsia. They have really nice fern like foliage.

That's quite unique - but mesquite has great bark too. I'm sorry that you lost your butterfly. What a tradgedy.
My trees are blooming and if it would just stop raining here I would take some photos. Maiku Jaku has the most lovely cluster of them.

I think that your Shantung will come back. You could grow it as a multi-trunk tree and it would be beautiful. I'm very fond of them done that way.

This seedling in the photo is one of my favorites for that reason. I'd transplant yours somewhere that it has more room - believe me I'm an expert at planting trees too close to structures. You can see that many trunks can be a beautiful thing. And that's just exactly what you have. I don't see any other way that they can get a multi-trunked tree anyway. Good job hungry puppy!

Toby, I am so glad to see a neighbor in the metroplex thats into Japanese Maples. I would love for you to give me some pointers here on these two little saplings I purchased. Just received them about two weeks ago, potted them up and put them in a halfway shaded area. Anyway when had that freeze a couple a weeks ago I bought them inside and since put them back outside. The green one is doing really well. The red might have dropped a few leaves or the cat got to it before I could put it up. I have a feeling the two trees are going to need different requirements. Do I have a chance of getting these plants to maturity?
Thanks
Sylvia
My red one

as you can see my green plant is really developing a lot of leaves.
I have lost AP's two or three times. I even purchased a 3or 4ft sapling at one time and I lost it ... but I did not have enough shade at that time I dont think. I love these trees so much and now I have learned that some have blooms ... how cool is that! :)
Sylvia

Hey Sylvia your acer's look great so far. I think containers are the best way to go until they have a couple years growth. One thing i've noticed in my store bought plants is the roots are usually bound and need a trim and comb job. I would wait until late fall and then pull them out of the pot, comb the knots out of the roots and trim them up. Its really easy to control the leaf size that way. I've noticed after a root trim you get really small leaves and conversely with a canopy chop you get huge ones. My red acer is just now budding out very small leaves. It was a wreck when I brought it home from Lowes last fall. You can get some good deals during the summer and fall when they go on sale.
One side note, I have a viridis planted in our native sandy soil and its doing wonderfull, even better then those planted in potting soil. Of course summer is not hear yet when they really get blasted.

Toby thank you for the great advice! Yesterday I notice that the red tree had little red buds on it, :) wellthat made mesmile. I see some links in the forum that offer larger AP's for good prices, but I dont have any place to put a big one right now.I barely have enough shade for my Hostas. Considering the way the developers are tearing up the inner city and rebuilding, I feel I am going to have a lot of shade, because they are taller than my townhouse. But its all good, my Hostas willlove it and I can plant more of them. lol
....will keep you posted.
Sylvia@work

Sylvia, you should go check out Metro Maples in Ft. Worth. They probably have a 1000 japanese maples, pines, ginkgo's,.. I mean everything and lots of different sizes. My shantung maple came from them and they have a new strain called Phoenix that looks really good.

Thanks for the info Toby. I might just go check it out this weekend.

Sylvia