New JM Obsession

Ok this past weekend I bought and planted a ;
Bloodgood
Emperor I
Atropurpureum
Osakasuki
Sango Kaku
They were fairly cheap at Home Depot.

But now I am considering a Butterfly and an Orange Dream. Please give me your opinions on these trees. The Butterfly would go into a very shady spot.
Thanks

Both very nice both need shade down there...Orange dream very hardy ...butterfly less so but in tx it should not make a differnce your trouble will be heat and sun and possibly humidty ..Although many of those you bought will take sun ...down there i probably would keep them at least partially shaded ...you will loose some color but ...greenish is better than late summer brown anyway ;>) David

Siggy,

I probably live a few miles from you in plano, I have had an orange dream for the last 3 years. It is about 4 ft tall and has always been in a container. So far it has does really well for me. Except for the early leafing and the shade requirement, it is one of my favorites. Really stands out in spring, and in the last couple of years got minimum scorch. I have not gotten a butterfly yet.

xman

Welcome to the JM world Siggy! I know that you will enjoy your trees.

Thanks for the comments. Xman where did you find your orange dream?

Siggy,

I got mine from Diana Smith from topiary gardens, NY.
http://www.topiary-gardens.com/

xman

I have always wanted a Japanese Maple and just got a Bloodgood. I certainly didn't realize there were so many different varieties, tho. I thought $60 was expensive from Lowe's but I guess I have a lot to learn. :-)

Susan

Welcome to the "club"

Laura

bloodgood is a beautiful tree susan. Betcha you can't have just one. :-)

I'm experimenting with JM's this year...I've never really grown them before so I'm interested to see how they like my climate. I got 'Ukigomo' and 'Murasaki kiyohime' from Mendocino Maples. So far so good, we're having our first summer heat wave and it's been 100 degrees for the last two days and they still look OK so we'll see! They're so gorgeous, I could have bought a ton of different ones but I decided to wait and see if I kill these two first!

The only way that I've lost a tree is to move it out in the sun too fast after it's been kept in the shade by a nursery. You may very well get some leaf burn but I'll bet that your trees are very happy in your garden.

That's good to know, I guess I had this image of them being somewhat temperamental. So I hope they like it here! I don't have too much in the way of areas that don't get blazing afternoon sun, so they're going to live in containers at least for now so I can keep them where they just get AM sun. Plus I'm not sure they'd like my clay soil or the low-water conditions that most of my garden is happy with.

They are perfectly happy in clay and can tolerate some dryer conditions once they've been established but it's the established part that is important. Over watering them isn't good either of course. Well, you probably know the drill. Plant them in January if you can. It's the best time for us and the trees are dormant and have a chance to make an adjustment before our dry or hot weather.

It's sure been too hot for May!

Maybe I will try them in the garden eventually then...I'm not sure where I'd put them though, most of my garden gets full sun from mid morning until sunset. But there are a couple areas where I currently have other things planted but I'm sure I'll get the urge to rearrange things at some point and can maybe make room for them then!

You know there are trees that will grow in full sun, right?

Yes...but I didn't go looking for that when I bought them, I went for ones with pretty leaves that I liked! LOL I suppose maybe I got lucky and mine would do OK in full sun, I'll have to look into it.

Ah we always do fall in love quickly with the pretty face. :-)

I'm trying this one. "Shirazz" It's drop dead gorgeous. Yesterday we had a full sunny day of winds gusting to 38mph. The temps were on the cool side ( 70 was the high). This tree was fully exposed to the wind and afternoon sun. No scorch or crisping observed. It's been in the ground since May 10.

http://www.plantsthatwork.com/PlantsThatWork/PlantDetails.aspx?PlantID=100909&PlantGroup=AllPlants&PlantGroupID=

Very pretty! Let me know how it holds up to the sun when your temps hit 100 and then I'll put it in full sun in my yard! LOL We don't get that hot all the time, but every summer we're guaranteed several heat waves where it does get that hot for a few days at a time. And when we're not having a heat wave, my yard is a wind tunnel starting around 2-3 PM. This is why I'm treating the JM's as an experiment this year which may or may not work out for me! I've got them in containers on my front porch where they get sun until about 1-2 and they're as protected from the afternoon wind as they can be.

I think most of leaf scourch is in hotter and more humid weather...lets wait a while on that claim . I had about 10 trees in full sun a week ago with two days of 25 - 35 mph constant day and night winds winds a gusts to 48 mph some in pots some in ground ( It was horrible and scary) ..I had no leaf scourch on any dissectums, uprights and a couple japonicans including Aconitiflium...which I know gets some damage in that location miid summer ..i'd hold off on that claim for a bit ..not saying it's not true ..but with any new plant best to not only give it a full season but a couple of years in that location ...David

I wasn't claiming Shirazz to be scorch proof. That's why I made the point the temps were relatively cool at 70. I too, am waiting for late July, 95 degress (which is about as hot as it get around here) full sun at 2:00 in the afternoon and a stiff wind. Then we'll know. But yesterday was a mildly positive sign.

Not to beat a dead horse but leaf scorch from wind and sun on a newly planted or potted JM often has alot to do about where the tree was before you got it . As I have posted before best to check whether it was under sade cloth or super protected area before you plop it down ...a tree that you buy that is leafed out and was exposed and acclimated to the conditions may do just fine at least in spring going right out just about anywhere ( best be a bit more careful in summer no matter what... otherwise it must be acclimated over a few weeks ...this is especially true with bare root and semi bare root shipped trees ...they in particular should be acclimated no matter what ...with potted or BB you can have a bit more leway "if" they have been outside for a while anyway .BTW I speak from experience of denuding many a tree by not practicing whatr I preach ;>) the draw of getting that tree to it's final planting space is strong...but must be resisted especially with bare and semi bare root and always in summer.David

And just because a tree scorches doesn't make it bad just normal... I personally have yet to see a JM that doesn't scorch here even larger trees to some extent but all of my younger ones do even in alot of shade by mid summer .. I think it would be highly unusual and highly unlikely if it diidn't scorch ( at least if it were in my yard it may be differnt where you live) in fact likely not possible( here) it is just something I live with Most red cultivars can take sun ok and most lineralobums also but I have yet to see a pristine younger JM by late july around here Jm time here is spring early summer and fall ...winter and mid/late summer is not a pretty site David

I do know that this one was grown in Zone 5 about 120 miles east of me. I don't know if it was under shade cloth. I did try to get some information from the grower, Willoway Nursery, but they will absolutely not talk to a retail customer. I learned what I could from Dayton Nursery, the retail operation where I bought it. I have driven many times ( in trips to Cleveland ) past Willoway's very extensive field operations. They have an enormous amount of acerage and a ton of shade houses. I have one excellent landscape contractor here who is a friend and who was surprised to see this tree. They would love to have it for their clients. They do 'High End" stuff. He'd never heard of it. So a lot remains to be known. I just finished my MG classes, (but not unfortunately managed the required 50 hrs of volunteer work yet). I'm going to ask the local coop extension agent and instructor if she can talk to Willoway. They work with the growers on a constant basis and network with other cooperative extension agents throughout the region. Short of calling Duncan and Davies in New Zealand the true information will come from folks like me who spend $245 smackers, drive 4-1/2 hrs round trip to get it and plunk it in Zone 5 with morning shade, afternoon sun and where the wind can get it. If that isn't a risky test I don't know what is. It will say alot about the tree and my intelligence, or lack thereof.

If you like the tree have the time and money why not...my thoughts are more for total newbees...I can't really talk sanely having 240+ cultivars here my wife can attest to that ...I have never paid that much for a tree but then if I did my trees would be worth much more than my house that my wife would be living alone in with the divorce settlement ;>) David

Two....Hundred....Forty?! Oh My! Obsessions come in all manner don't they? LOL Tell us, what ONE cultivar don't you have, that is still at the top of your aquisition list?

I just bought Shirazz today...had no intentions of doing so, but I went to the nursery down the street from me this morning to buy water plants, and they had signs up that said all their maples were 25% off, so I figured I'd take a look and see if they had anything good, and there was Shirazz staring at me! It was $199, but with the 25% off I just couldn't resist! And they have a guarantee on all their plants so if it ever dies I can take it back and get my money back. It was too big to fit in my car, but with the other stuff I bought it came out to enough that they'd deliver it for free, so I figured all these things added to to an opportunity I couldn't pass up!

I might pick up a new variety here and there but am basically done ...I will start weeding out those I don't want to keep and sell them off within a year or so...of course never say never...something phenominal or really rare may catch my eye or come along and if I can acquire the acreage next door I might reconsider but basically I is done for now with the exception of a couple more from Della .... and greers is always on the lookout for me for something specia for mel. David

Well, ercane3, now we have Shirazz testing from the midwest to the west coast. There is a Shirazz thread somewhere we could post our observations on or we could start a new thread for Shirazz - The experiment! Pretty thing isn't it!

BTW the Omure Yama I got from Della has samaras. Anybody want them (about 8) ? Starting JM's from seed is something I just can't tackle this year. Too much on my plate. I'd hate to see them go to waste.

It is gorgeous--I'll be sure to find the Shirazz thread and post a pic when it gets delivered next weekend. I don't like having to wait a week, but it was better than trying to jam a 5 foot tall tree into my tiny hatchback and break half the branches in the process!