Alt to Twombly's Red Sentinel Japanese Maple

12 years ago

HI;

I have a spot that would be perfect for a Twombly's Red Sentinel Japanese Maple. However, twomblys is very slow growing (and difficult to find in anything much larger than foot or two). I really want to buy something that I can find locally that is larger, or something that is fast growing.

I'm looking to keep this tree either 1 of 2 ways:

1. About 5 feet wide, branches can go all the way to the ground, max about 15 feet high.

2. A tree that gets wider, up to 10 - 15 wide feet that I can prune the lower branches off of (i.e. have it look more like a normal tree). Still max of about 15 feet high.

I have a Autumn Blaze Maple in this spot currently, and while it looks quite nice at about 14', it will tower over my neighbors house in a few short years. It would make us more comfortable to have something that stays shorter.

I don't mind pruning and regular care, but of course there is no way to keep an autumn blaze short without butchering it. Hardy to zone 4 or 5, it is a pretty protected location and I am almost sure a zone 5 would do great. I checked and I have 2 other zone 5 trees that are doing very well here. Though I am listed as zone 4 I am 1 mile away from zone 5. This is a almost full sun location.

Here are my ideas:

1. Amur Maple - with some pruning to keep it from getting too wide.

2. Acer palmatum 'Viridis' - this is listed as a fast growing Japanese Maple, I know where I can get one that is about 2'. I am not sure how fast growing this would really be. I'm afraid with this I'd be waiting 5 or more years just to get it up in the 8-10' size range.

I love the look and current size of the Autumn Blaze, but I know it will be too big for this location and want to move it before it becomes difficult to transplant.

I have 47 year old Global Arborvitae about 10 feet from this tree (where the Autumn blaze is currently -that I want to replace). It does a great job of separating my garden from the front of the house. However, it will be going on 48 years old this year and is nearing the end of it's life. I think it will have to be taken out within a couple years, and I would like to have the tree was are discussing be somewhat substantial by that time.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can make.

Jamie

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Comments (5)

noki
12 years ago
Just get a 6-7' tall 'Bloodgood' or 'Emperor 1' that has not been trimmed to spread out low. Why have your ruled these red leafed maples out?

How about a Paperback Maple? It is a slow growing tree but you can buy a 7' tall tree. Will be slow to fill out sideways, will probably never get too tall.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
12 years ago
It is a pretty accurate generalization that trees that grow fast don't stay very small. And 15' IS considered quite small for a tree :-)

Both 'Bloodgood' and 'Emperor I' are larger growing selections of Japanese maples and would be expected to exceed 15' relatively rapidly. And 10-15' wide is also a pretty conservative spread for either of these. 'Viridis' is a weeping laceleaf selection, not really known for fast growth and a 15 footer would be a very old and rather unusual specimen -- to be honest, NO Japanese maple grows very fast in comparison to the rest of the tree world. That is typically why larger sized specimens tend to carry substantial price tags. I'd also question hardiness issues - zone 5 is generally considered the borderline for most JM's and 4 is definitely pushing the envelop.

What about something like a weeping purple beech? Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountain' or 'Purpurea Pendula' would fit most of the size requirements, have better hardiness for your area and you should be able to find ones already with some size to them. But I wouldn't expect particularly fast growth.......you are just not going to find that characteristic on a tree that remains small.
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jamiedolan
Original Author
12 years ago
The zone issue is likely the reason that I have run into the problem of not being able to find these trees locally. There are only a hand full of JM's that can be found locally. It is quite difficult to find any JM much over about 3'. The big box green house steins has a couple larger ones, but not much larger and the larger JM's are green leaf. I'd have a real hard time finding more that about 3 varieties total of JM's locally, all in small sizes. I was going to mail order one of the other varieties like Twombly's, but that limits the size quite a bit.

Despite the zone, however, I see many JM's that have been planted in my area for many years that seem to do just fine. So I don't worry too much about planting them.

I know paperbark is hardy here, and I did consider it, again for some reason, I can't find it locally. I may have to search some nurseries out of the area more, but in the state. I found it available for mail order from some out of state nurseries. Which I think would do just find if I had it shipped when dormant.

I will have to look at the Beech. I think I have seen them on the list of trees that a local nursery carries, but can't think of what they look like.

Thanks

Jamie
honeytreenursery_hotmail_com
11 years ago
I sell a large number of japanese maples including Twombly's. Check us out if you live in Canada.

www.thehoneytreenursery.com

Here is a link that might be useful: The Honey Tree Nursery
arktrees
11 years ago
Some of the dogwoods would probable fit well there. Maybe one of the variegated kousa dogwoods like Wolfeyes or Summer Fun? Also if the site is drier American Smoke Tree Cotinus obovatus.

Arktrees

Alt to Twombly's Red Sentinel Japanese Maple

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noki

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

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Alt to Twombly's Red Sentinel Japanese Maple

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noki

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jamiedolanOriginal Author

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