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Help - right tree right price?

18 years ago

My wife and I just bought a tree (we can return since we have not yet picked it up) but knowing next to nothing about trees we are wondering if we bought on looks alone and need to rethink our decision.

We bought a Full Moon Japanese Maple (Acer Japonicum Aconitifolium) - on the largish size (about 6 foot tall, very nice shape). It was on sale at $480. We will need to dig a 3 by 6 hole to plant this guy when it is delivered.

The neighbors have a Japanese Maples that are a different type - looks like they get larger than this tree will and have different leaves). We love their trees and thought the continuity with those trees would be nice. The tree will be near power lines so we did not want a tall tall tree.

Is this price reasonable (it seemed high and a lot more than we had in mind) and does anyone have any advice on this particular variety. It looks great, but then again looks can be deceiviing.

Thanks for any advice you all can provide. (I have a pic of the tree as well if anyone wants to see it)

david

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Comments (3)

jacquot
18 years ago
If you go to the thread "5 Favorite Japanese Maple Cultivars" you will see this cultivar rates at the top of many people's lists, including mine. Mine is around 7 or 8 years old and just reached 6' this year. For an urban area--I'm in NYC suburbs--the price is probably normal, and yes it is high, especially compared to the people on the west coast. But larger, well formed trees are expensive. The form, leaf shape and size, flowers and fall color are all outstanding. The spring emerging growth is also very interesting. Enjoy.
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deep___roots
18 years ago
This variety is usually priced a little higher than other varieties because it is unique in that it has a leaf form unlike other japanese maples. The price seems a little high, but not out of line. It sounds like a very nice specimen from your description.
I got one of these in a one-gallon from a big box store. It was mislabeled and I was the first to realize that, so I pounced. It was 12 bucks. See, it does help to study your maple books!
If your neighbor's maples are thriving, yours should do fine in a proximate location.
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Thank you everyone for all your inputs. I will look into the other trees that you guys have suggested. I guess I'm reaching for the stars having that combination of contradicting parameters--> strong structure that will grow fast and stay small. I suppose if I took out the tree swing requirement, that would open up a whole lot more choices as there are many rapid growing small trees available (will just have to make that swing some other way). One of the reasons I like the October Glory (my apologies for calling it Red October - I must have been thinking of the movie..) is it's beautiful autumn color. But I can't have a 50 foot tree on that spot. Among other things, I don't want to take out a big part of my next door neighbors view of the lake as well. Our houses are on top of a slope, so a 50-foot crown will be at about eye level and will directly block the view. So the search continues, but this time with a more doable set of parameters. I just want a rapid growing tree, under 30 ft. tall that will grace us with a beautiful color during the autumn months. And of course, disease resistant would help too. By the way, I am in western CT, region (6a).
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that mock up.. is perfect spacing.. for the trees as they are at that size ... in a decade ... they will be growing into each other.. and probably not all that pleasing to the eye ... size estimates in conifers.. is usually at ten years .. and you can easily presume.. at 20 years.. they will be twice as large in every dimension ... 25 feet max is not much for picea pungens and pinus .... unless you used dwarfing cultivars ... and those will take decades to get to the height needed for sight blocking ... in this example.. in 10 years ... the magnolia will be in full shade.. and probably not seen .. and might not flower fully .... imo.. there are at least 2 and maybe 3 too many trees for that spot ... but it sure will look cool for a while.. in tree time ... ken BTW ... in my z5 MI ... there are only 2 bulletproof mags ... star and tulip ... and i am blanking on the latin.. soulangea ... and something something.. lol ... are you aware if sweet bay will thrive up in that part of ME???
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dctrimble
Original Author
18 years ago
thanks for all the help! We got the tree and planted it last week. Looks just great - we are very pleased. We got some help from the local extension service on assesing the tree and asked for and got a longer warranty from the nursery. We are now trying to pick out two more trees for the front yard - paperbark maples and another japanese (need one that goes to 20 feet or higher if possible)

david
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