ID needed

This tree is 23 years old and is about 5 feet high. I know there are many kinds of cutleaf maples. Is it possible to ID this from the photo?

That is a beautiful tree. I don't have any idea about what it is but there are wiser folk here that I'm sure will help you. I just had to say how lovely it is.

Not possible with that. You would probably need pictures of the leaves and petioles unfolding in early spring, the stems, and the fall color. Even then it would be difficult.

I'd say trying to identify it is a basic waist of time since you will never know for sure!! ...it may even be a seed grown tree ( likely if it's that old) which cannot be called a named cultivar even if it came from one...give it a name yourself like brad or jennifer ;>) but just a pet name as has been said if you plan to propagate it you'll just confuse folks there being so many similar trees. BTW it is a beautiful specimen. David

Thanks all. To answer some questions - It is green in the fall. I will try to get a photo next spring. The main reason I am asking for a name is that a neighbor wanted to try to find one like it. I do not think this was seed grown because we bought it at a nursery and, unlike a Bloodgood Maple I have that throws seeds all around, this one has not produced any seedlings. I am assuming it was grafted. Wish I had kept the info. For those who have commented on the photo, there was one on the property that we were told was about 70 - 75 years old when we bought the property so it is close to 90 years now. It is just spectacular in the fall. Pictures don't do justice to it, but I'll upload one anyway.

If you have a true bloodgood it is 99.9% chance it is grafted. the only other ways would be cuttings, air layering or other direct methods.which are hit or miss ( cuttings) or expensive to do.Most JM's will put out seeds some don't or have so few you might not ever notice and the rate of success with seeds haphazardly dropped on the ground is not great UNLESS you have gobs of them falling ..so even though your dissectum may have a "few" seeds hidden in all that growth you may never get a seedling. Dissectums in my experience have in general very few seeds but I suppose there are exceptions. I have said this before and your area might be differnt but I NEVER saw grafted JM's in stores and nurseries until about 8 or 9 years ago ...and I thought they were inferior at the time. As I said it may have been more common in your area but if you bought it many years ago I'd bet wherever you bought it it was seed grown . David

I might add being seed grown does not take away from it being a very nice JM and it also doesn't preclude your neighbor from getting a similar one like a Waterfall or Virdis or many other larger growing green dissectums. They should be aware a larger specimen will be big bucks and still take many many years to get half the size of yours!! David

Wow, the second photo is even more exciting than the first. How lovely.

David I'd say that since mygardens is located in new york the likelihood of it being grafted is a bit higher. There are some very old grafted specimens in my area (which is also fairly rural and which is comparatively new to JMs). These trees are at least 25 years old, so there were grafted trees around. They were just at select nurseries that carried higher quality plants. I guess this is similar to the way styrax japonica and other flowering trees are becoming more popular among gardening circles to replace dogwoods, cherries, and pears but is nowhere to be found in your typical nursery.

I agree that your neighbor can get a similar look with Viridis or Waterfall.

Laura