J. Maples in pots? Please post pics

If you have any pics please post them. I would like to learn more about the J. Maples. I only have one that may get 25 ft. I like the weeping ones and the fringe cut too.
Thanks,
Teresa

I don't have pics, but 3 of mine are in pots (other than nursery pots). I've planted them in ceramic pots, 15" wide, 16" deep- the mix is half pine fines, half topsoil (approximate). The 3 are Germaine's Gyration, Jiro Shidare, & Shigitatsu Sawa...

If you have not already looked back in the threads, look for my name as the originator and you will find pics of several of my JMs which are small and in pots. I currently have a small Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood', 'Mizuho Beni', 'Omure Yama', and 'Viridis', and Acer Shirasawanum in pots. I planted one this spring that was in a pot for a year, Acer palmatum 'Itame Nibluki', and lost a tiny sapling I purchased in early spring, Acer conspicuum 'Phoenix'.

I plan to put all but the 'Viridis' into the ground over the next several years. That one I purchased to grow up in a container on my patio.

Congrats!

Laura

Hi, Laura
I live near a small nursery that has J Maples but they do not know what variety. I am guessing it is the most common one. Will it be to large to grow in a large container? One of my daughter's loves bonsai and I was hoping to try it.
Teresa

Hi there Teresa ~~

I have 3 of my favorite Japanese Maples in pots, and they are still doing great in them even after 2 1/2+ yrs. The first pic is of my absolute favorite JP ever....Acer palmatum 'Katsura' - just about one of the nicest all around JMs I have ever grown! Great spring color, wonderful overall form with very little pruning, wonderful fall color....just a really great maple...

This message was edited Nov 16, 2006 8:54 PM

I also have this cute little weeper that I for the life of me can not remember the name of right now....but it has done really well in it's container with a Hosta 'Fire n' Ice' growing in under the foliage....a nice combo all spring and summer and then in fall as the Hosta fades away, the branch structure of the maple still looks good in its spot through the rest of the year....I think that's part of the draw of the weeping maples - the strong presence they have even when bare of leaf....

ps....if anyone knows the name of this little guy I would appreciate the nudge to my memory lapse... :-)

Thanks for the pics, Jamie. Is the weeping one just a smaller variety? I love the red in the first pic.

I recommend that you decide what color and size you think you want in the pot...stick a branch or something in there to get an idea of size! Imagine the tree at its full adult size. Dwarfs exist and can be pruned, but putting something with an eventual size of 15 feet/5 meters into a pot for a corner of the patio may not be a great idea! At my local nursery, they put the dwarf varieties together. You could call ahead and see if they have a staff member that is particularly knowledgeable and go when that person will be there. Once you decide if you want red/green, dissectected leaves, or not, you will narrow your choices tremendously. Height further restricts the choices, but as long as you can transplant to larger pots, you can go pretty large if you want to though large pots can be pretty expensive!

The 'Viridis' I have in a pot is likely to get 4-6 feet tall and wide. Most weepers seem to get about as wide or a bit wider, than they are tall, as a rule of thumb. It is very slow growing, however, so I expect it to stay in the same pot for a couple of years, at least. It is a short green dissected leave JM. There are lots of good pics in the plant files. I will plant it in a tall enough pot that it can drape a bit over the edge and as it has only four short branches right now, I can shape it as I wish as it ages.

If you have not already surfed through the plant files for inspiration, I suggest you do so!

Laura

Thanks everyone. I believe I need to go to a nursery with more knowlege of JMs.
Teresa

That will be a lot of fun! If you have a botanical garden, that also may be a nice place to visit.

Laura

Hi, Bluegrassmom - This site doesn't have pictures,
but there is a lot of information about growing Japanese
Maples in a flowerpot. At least, I learned a lot about what
NOT to do. Hope it helps.

http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=17342

jaime68 that is a nice plant. what do you do with it during winter since it is in a pot?

Hi all! The person on the UCB site had put his pot in a cache pot without a hole. You can drill holes in pots with a standard drill and a bit designed for ceramics if you don't already have one. I wouldn't risk putting any maple in a pot where the drainage was stopped.

Hi there forevereden~~

I am so lucky here in my climate, the Japanese Maples I have in containers simply stay put in winter. I pull them up a little closer to the house if any freezing rain ( it accumulates on the branches and snaps them if it doesn't melt quickly - learned that the hard way!!) or unusually cold weather is forecast. But other than that they live outside, and do great! I don't know what I would do if I lived in a harsher zone, those larger containers are so heavy!!

I found a better pic of the little one, that I can't remember the name of..... Any ideas??

Jamie

I would not risk putting any plant in a pot without a hole for drainage. ... made that mistake with about fifty tulip bulbs years ago ... it was a new pot and I just plain forgot.

Jamie what an awesome Maple.. I want one terrribly bad...:) I think its called a Weeping Maple or something like that. How old is your tree?

This message was edited Nov 25, 2006 10:39 PM

Looks like Crimson Queen. Beautiful plant! I wonder if you could take cuttings of it or if it was grafted? I got some seeds once of different varieties and tried sprouting them different ways but had no luck. Do you see any type of graft union on the bottom? I never thought they were grown that way but last time I was at the nursery the man was showing me different types that have been. It is very pretty though!

Most of the JMs we see in the nurseries are hybrids of acer Palmatum trees. As hybrids, they won't come true from seeds and are grafted from branches from parent trees. If you do get seeds to start, you might get some pretty seedlings, however, and I know of friends with lots of seedlings they share about. Seedlings can be very hardy and strong trees, but you might not be able to predict how big they will get when they get older.

Laura

Crimson Queen I have been lusting after for the longest. :) I just thought this tree was not upright enough, but maybe you are right. Laura you guys must be awfully young to try and grow those plants from a seed or seedlings.. I am too old for that LOL . I want to take pics of what I have but I cant get outside for fear of falling and this Cane dont help me much at all.

Sylvia

Hi all~~

Yes Sylvia, it is a weeping Maple, but the name eludes me. I believe it starts with 'Beni _____', but in my research there are many that have that word in the beginning of the name. The nursery only had 2, and the other one is gone. I am taking several leaves in to them in the spring, and they are going to try to help me figure it out. But they carry 100's of Japanese Maples so it may take a bit of detective work.....the leaves are only red for a short time, then they change to green with other colors in there, as you can see in the pic dated Nov. 16th. It's a fun Maple to have as it goes through so many color changes, probably my favorite........

This pic shows the leaves close up around the Hosta....they really have a lot of different tones, but it isn't Crimson Queen....that much I know. By July-August there is no red left....just greens of different shades, and then the Fall color show starts....with all kinds of colors..Orange, yellow, golden and some red.....

Thanks all for the help trying to ID this tree. I will let you all know what the nursery has to say. Maybe they can solve the mystery LOL :-)

Have a Great Day!
Jamie

Jamie what's the name of that Hosta? its a beauty! meantime I will help you look up the tree... that hosta took me completely away from that tree :)... can you get a closer pic of the tree?

Hi Sylvia~~ First of all, Thank-you for taking a look at my poor little no name tree....I will get a better shot! Second - the Hosta is my all time favorite one, name is 'Fire and Ice'....isn't it a cutie??

Let me try to find a better shot of the Maple...here is one as it is just starting to leaf out...

Teresa, sorry for using this thread to try to ID this tree! If we can't get it with one more pic, I'll take it to a new thread, maybe in the ID forum...

Thanks Sylvia, for your time! Here is a closer shot of the leaves.....the other pics above in this thread show overall form, reddish early spring color, and greenish later color....what else would help??

Jamie

I envy you Jamie...I also grow some JM in pots (small ones) but I have to sink the pots in the ground for the winter as they freeze too solid otherwise. However, this method does work as long as the pots are small enough to move sensibly. Here is my baby Aka Shigitatsu Sawa.

This is Red Pygmy

And my Ukigumo

Hi Todd! It is I that envy you - I just had to tear my Ugi out of the ground after the consensus was that it had verticillium wilt, and it nearly broke my heart....such a pretty tree. And yours is simply stunning with the foliage being almost totally white. I really like the top photo as well -- the 'Aka Shigitatsu Sawa' -- what kind of color does it have in spring and fall?? It has a lovely leaf form. Every Maple you grow, I seem to want. Just like the "olden days" on the Rock Garden forum with your Saxifaga pics...LOL :-)

Good to hear from you!

Jamie

ps....this little Maple in the front of this bed is a treasure I found at one of those out-of-the-way nurseries in a very rural area. It is 'First Ghost' and I look forward to seeing how much white it shows next year....

Here are a few in pots-- we are usually what you would consider zone 7, and we leave our pots out year around. In the winter we see temps in the high 20's, but mostly in the 30's and on a few nights, down to the low 20's. Snow is rare, but it will act as a good insulator. We have had plants of all sizes from one gallons on up outside all winter long uninsulated.

The key is to keep them moist and the water will protect the roots. Ours do freeze, sometimes solid, but I have not noticed a particular problem with this in our zone. The year we drop into the teens for a few days will prove me wrong, but for now and most years, our plants are fine outside.

Ryuzu~~ WOW!! Now that is a lot of Maples! :-) I want to see those in the spring, what a pretty picture that would be! Are they all going into the ground in your garden, or are you potting them up? Of course I know how much work that all is, so since we aren't

A lot of maples is all relative, correct? :-) We are maintaining a moderate sized collection here on our propterty that will someday be the basis for what I hope will be a small maple nursery. We propagate some maples as a hobby, are doing some seed germination, and have plans for lots of other fun stuff like cuttings, budding and other hobby-oriented trials. Someday, when the plants get some size and we have far too many from propagation trials, we will probably sell some of them off. But heck, I have a day job and a limited income, so dream on and dream big is my motto!

The maples in the photo have moved some as I was able to create a staging area for many of them this year with a permanent water supply. We have only been in this old house now about a year and a half and have much prep work before the plants go in the ground. But yes, my plan is to put the best of them in the ground as their longevity is usually greatly increased there. We put about 20 in the ground this year.

Here is your spring photo! Not the best, but it is the best I could find. As to the matter of relative size of the collection the photos are really on a small number of the plants we have around--it has grown to more of an obsession than a hobby.......everyone needs a good obsession.



This message was edited Dec 9, 2006 11:17 PM

Very impressive! I dare not leave my pots aboveground...we can drop to 0 F although low 20's is the norm. Our snow can get to 4 feet or more so snow-loading would probably destroy more than the cold. In the garden, I must use JM at least 6 feet tall so they are mostly above the snowline otherwise I build cloches around them. The potted ones are also kept in a large cloche to keep out most of the snow, which means they might get exposed to 0F..hence I bury the pots to be on the safe side.

Jamie, here is the fall colour of Aka Shigitatsu Sawa.

And early spring

Ryuzu~~

Thanks for posting the spring pic....really gives me a lift on this dreary, windy, bleak, gray day!! I was wondering if a small nursery might be in the making... I, for one, would be first in line! :-)

Todd~~

I just knew the foliage on that one would be gorgeous in spring, and fall, and your pics sure confirm that. I started coming to this forum to try to narrow down some choices for my new garden....and this one is definitely making the cut!

Have a great day all!
Jamie

Please be advised that past performance does not guarentee future results... From what I have seen in my limited experince that each year is differnt andd even though Todds plants may look like this now it may not next year ( similar yes but exactly the same no... Add to that placement ( shade etc) and where you live your results may be differnt .(Todd seems to have dicey winters for JM's but often near perfect summers ...short but jm "worthy"from what he has told us) The basic leaf structure and coloration will be the same or similar but growth rates, brilliance of colors and type of branching may differ. Also as a plant grows older it seems to catch more of the distinctive cultivar look... young plants may not look the same as they do as they age. I say all of this cause my AKA (BTW pronounced like a gun shot NOT using the monicer for "also known as"!!!) looked similar in spring to Todds but didn't get as brilliant in fall...summer color was a basic green ...I really like it but it does not look the same as Todds...Mine though DOES get alot of shade and is NEW...So you can get an idea of what you want through pics of plants and descriptions but they may vary a bit with your circumstances...NOT that there is anything wrong with DAT!!! DM '68

David has a good point. We usally see a good deal of rose-pink on Aka shigitatsu sawa in the spring as Todd shows, but there are some environmental conditions that will cause changes in the coloration. Ours was a little more orange this year or amber in color, probably due to an organic fertilizer that was applied. In summer, if given too little sun or too much fertilizer the reticulation and variegation on this plant can be obscured entirely. It is common for the second flush of growth to be less characteristic in leaf shape and color (this is common for many veriegates and reticulates). Again as David says, in a pot we can get drastic changes in characteristics, but in the ground, over time, we will see a more consistent display from the plant. I think overally Todd's plant is pretty representative.

For those of us that will view the photos in the Vertrees texts we will see a plant with a lot more red in the leaf. Most if not all of the original Aka shigitatsu sawa that were brought to this country from Japan perished. It was those plants that gave a great red color. In there place there are a number of selected seedling offspring as well as a couple selected varieties. We lump all of these replacement plants under the heading of Beni shigitatsu sawa as they will never quite have the red of Aka and display a mostly rose-pink coloration in all phases. They are beautiful plants and a must have for very collector, but just to advise, the Aka you buy is probably not truly an Aka from a historic perspective, but it doesn't really matter that much either.

Most all of the shigitatsu sawas, Reticulatum, Kasagiyama, etc. hold their characteristics well through the year depending on the culture of the plant. From those there have been many seedling selctions, Peaches and Cream, Tiger Rose, all the Ghosts, Will D, Ariadne, and many other new introductions. When you begin taking seedling selections from reticulated parents it is common for the desired characteristics of reticulation and variegation to more quickly fade in a growing season, where the parent plants hold their characteristics longer. So for any of you just getting started with reticulated maples, you would be best served by buying the older varieties of the Shigitatsu sawas and Kasagiyama before investing in the newer-named plants. The performance is usually much better overall, but we can get a great burst of color from the newer named varieties as well, it just does not always persist.

Attached: Amber Ghost--similar eh?

Cheers!

David ... a while back you posted a link to a Maple tree ... I think that was you. Anyway they had every maple tree ever grown ... I was thinking maybe Jaime can find the name of her tree.

Jamie I didnt know Fire&Ice got that big ... I thought it was a mini?

Sylvia

Don't think it was me...I don't know any site that has that ( every cultivar) evalds has alot maybe that was it ..you gots to get to the "entire catalogue" and then "main page english" then cataloge of trees and shrubs main index then "A" for acer then palmatum or whatever species of acer you are looking for and it's not easy to navigate.. BUT here's that link... it may not take you to the last stated page thats why I speced out how to "get there" above... As I said I don't know if this was even what you were thinking about...or if it was me at all ...David

http://www.esveld.nl/catindex/engels/catheesterseng.htm

This is the page you want for the Esveld Catalog that is easiest to navigate (in actuality, it is the "A" from David's link). David, I think this link will make it easier for you to search around. There are quite a few ways to get into that site and some are not so user friendly.

As you scroll down the page (depending on your connection speed it could take some time to load) you will see some non-acer plants and then you will start to hit the Acer species and eventually you will hit palmatum, the largest part of the site catalog from this link.

http://www.esveld.nl/catal/heestersa.htm

This message was edited Dec 10, 2006 9:59 PM

Ryuzu, that explains why my shigitatsu sawa does not have the lovely rose-pink veination as shown in Vertrees 3rd edition. When I saw that pic, I wanted the maple...and when I saw a young plant for sale, I grabbed it immediately. At the time, it was jusy showing the first leaves. As the season progressed, the veination was more pale green, not that lovely rose-pink. I was somewhat dissappointed but thought perhaps it would colour up more as it matured. Seems that will not happen. None the less, I still rather like the one I have. It has gone through two winters so far in its pot with no ill effects.

Amber Ghost is indeed very similar to the leaf pattern on mine. Makes you wonder how they could pass it off as a new cultivar.

Yes, my growing area is dicey in winter...snow-loading is the biggest problem and can cause severe damage in some winters. Our winters are also very windy so you need to find a sheletered spot. Barring that aside, we rarely drop to 0 F so winter temps are not a problem. Summers here are cool averaging about 75 F...very rare to hit 90 F so leaf scorch is no problem and we grow our JM in full sun. Great for developing excellent fall colour.

Here is a pic of my ones in pots. I pot some of the smaller ones up into the nursery containers to give them a larger soil mass for the winter and will most likely re-pot again in the spring. Most of these will be in the yard in a year or two provided the beds are ready for them.

Bill