Show your first leaves popping out!

I would not have believed this if I had not seen it with my own eyes. I had my neighbor over today to show her a pot I'm giving her, and took the opportunity to show her around my gardens. This MORNING, when I pointed out my Red Bark JM, it was all BUDS. This afternoon, after a day of sunshine, guess what when my husband passed by it....several little leaves had popped out!! I"m so excited about "seeing" this process....and it happened on .....

March 2 in Austin, Texas

This message was edited Mar 2, 2008 11:03 PM

How did your JM survive the snow and cold? Or we're you lucky and it passed you by?

This seedling maple is always the first for me and always covered with flowers.

Ticker: JM's can survive the snow and cold! Do you mean the buds? I placed a pop-up leaf holder on the top and hoped for the best...and they didn't freeze off!

Doss...your JM's are always the best!!! Thanks for posting! Can't wait until mine are that large!

Here's Butterfly on it's way out.

Yeah, I meant the tender buds... :) I'm hoping that JM's can survive the cold and snow, I have one sitting in the garage waiting to be planted later this spring. :)

Diann

I hope that your JM's survive the cold this springk too Ticker. It's too bad that they aren't more cold hardy. Bummer. What cultivar do you have in the garage?

Doss, it's a Tamukeyama that I picked up late last August. It has a nasty lean to it, so I smushed it up against a wall and blocked the pot in with heavier objects hoping that maybe it would make it straighten up and fly right. :) We'll see. I've probably killed it..

here was my original thread on it:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/764704/

I'm thinking about bringing it out of the garden shed and putting it on the sun porch where it will get more light, be warmer and I can watch it closer... we'll see..

Diann

Ah yes, I remember it now. You don't want it to come out of dormancy too fast. You might ask some other cold winter tree growers what they recommend as far as the sun porch.

I thought about the sun porch because the sun porch isn't heated and I could pay closer attention to its water requirements. :)

But, I'd appreciate any other wisdom on the subject. :)

Diann

I think the sun porch is fine .is it glassed in or screened .If it is glassed .I would get yourself a small electric portable heater 12-15$$ and a good extension cord ready if we get any weather like last spring ...otherwise move back and forth to garage as needed...once it leafs out if it gets down in the 20's at night it will NOT be happy .you have a ways to go in your area ( two months ...maybe more to safely leave it out cart blanche ....D

I could always roll it in to the house at night if it got really cold. Sunporch is right off the dinning and living room.. :) Thanks!

dp

To me - the "coming out" stage is almost as pretty as the full effect stage - and by far the most exciting in my yard.

Here are some of my other JM's...fully "out":

The area you see above is in the process of being landscaped. I just had a little stone stairway done yesterday and will plant the area tomorrow. So...please excuse the spade in the background!

Another JM:

Beautiful maples connie. Are you any further in figuring out which maples to plant in your new area?

Don't you love this time of year!

Really nice pics, thanks for posting them.

Laura

Connie, I bought an unmarked JM just like yours in the above pot. Do you know the variety? Thanks =)

I think it's "Garnet" but then I'm not a JM expert! I know that of the 2 kinds I bought, one was the Garnet and the other something else...I'll have to go look up the name!

Guys...does Garnet sound right?

Doss...I took one of my 2 yo JMs and planted in the ground in an area I just designed....with a stone path that steps up one stone at a time...the JM looks nice there, I think. I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I decided not to plant JMs in the area I WAS thinking about as it gets sun all morning, and our "Texas " morning sun can be a scorcher in August!

I'll look forward to your photo Connie. Your space is so beautiful that there are a lot of things you can do with it - that's for sure.

Here's an "Ellen"

And "Kim"

"Ao Jutan"

Fairy Hair - this is incredibly hard to photograph. After taking this photo I went and straightened her up a little bit. :-)

I just love the Fairy Hair, I can't wait for mine to arrive. Another month!!!

Elizabeth

Wow, I like Fairy Hair. Does it stay straight or do the leaves curl?

Laura

The leaves are like a finer version of Koto No Ito so they stay straight and don't curl. The leaves are sort of like fine grass. You can see the similar characteristic of the Koto No Ito where the first year leaves are wider than the older leaves. It makes a beautiful texture.

Hello,
Your Japanese Maples are stunning! Love them myself. I would like to start one, May I ask you, when is a good time to make a cutting? Spring before full leaves or in the the fall? Also, I am wondering if Once I get a cutting should I use a rooting compound or is water enough. I am aprreciate of any advise on a baby Japanese Maple.

Seedtosser, a cutting won't take in water or rooting compound. It has to be grafted to make it. I'd encourage you to buy a very small named maple or even a seedling to start.

Doss: Wow....how exciting! What is the underplanting with 'Kim'? Love the combination!

I just planted one of my JM's in a new garden area I call the 'Path.' Here it is. It's just my second in the ground...all others still in the planters. I'm so scared something will "get" my baby!!

Edited to say that I did all this work myself in 2 days except for the big rock which was dug out of the ground for the pool and the stepping stones, which I couldn't lift by myself. My impetous? I'm giving my mother an 80th birthday party in 3 weeks and all of our old, old friends are coming!!

This message was edited Apr 8, 2008 11:32 PM

I just realized the "big" rock didn't make it into this pic. DUH......

May not make sense about "big rock" but that is still one beautiful garden! :) and a lot of work to create it!

That is beautiful!!! Thanks for sharing! I love the stepping stones, everything flows so nicely.

Has anyone created a rock river? I thought of that for an area of my yard, but there are so many leaves in fall and my neighbor is horrible about keeping his yard raked. Since we're downwind, we get lots of his leaves in our yard. I just don't think I want the work to keep the "river" leaf-free and looking good.

Elizabeth

Here's my rock river - please forgive the soaker hose. I was having some problems with irrigation. It's gone now but I was having a hard time finding a photo.

The ground cover with the "Kim" is mondo grass. I love the stuff. It doesn't need mowing and I can walk on it so I use it as 'paths' in the perennial beds so I can get in there to weed etc.

Connie - beautiful plantings as usual. I'm a little concerned about the placement of the tree though. In a couple of years you may not be able to get by it as it's so very close to the path.

Doss...you are so right! I was so anxious to get the red color in before my mom's birthday party I'm giving her that I didn't think that out.. I forgot that they usually stay low....duh.... I'll probably replant it after the party! Thanks SO much for the advice!

Well I hope that you all have a wonderful time at the party!