I finally got that Japanese Maple...
.... and four hostas called me over so.....
A while ago I went tree shopping (to provide some filtered shade for a sunny potential hosta site) but ended up coming home with a couple hostas and no tree!
So I thought I'd take another stab at it. First aisle I head for is....uh-huh, hostas! 30% off, Anniversary Sale, on all $10 and over....or 5/$30 all other hosta.
Couldn't find anything new in the 5/$30, so ambled up to the others. I found:
The Queen, Elegans, Praying Hands, and Regal Splendor. 24.99, 17.99, 17.99, 14.99 respectively....less 30%...saved 22.80, not bad at all!
Then I went to look at 'The Emperor' Japanese Maples. Found a tall one that would fit in the Impala sport! But I had to break the top of the supporting bamboo stake! Lol. It lay in the front reclined seat all the way to the back, diagonally.
Hostas:
'The Queen'... with 2 big shoots - toss-up between 3 small shoots but fuller plant or two stronger, larger eyes with less pleasing form, a horizontal growth....but with larger leaves.
'Elegans' - 4-5 shoots. Dislike fertilizer spray all over ... what a mess to look at but tonight's rain will probably wash it out. Hope it got some benefit... Had one in the 80's but it was one of a few that stayed behind when I moved.
'Praying Hands' - 7 shoots and standing at 23" tall from the crown up!!! I think that's fabulous! Is it? I realize it's an upright, but this seems to be a good-sized one. Sunglass case for scale.
(I now have 3 left to get of the HOTY to make my list complete! Earth Angel, Victory which is this year's Hosta Of The Year, and Curly Fries.). LOL...I just made up my shopping list for my next Hosta Choice trip!
''Regal Splendor' - sport of KR... love Krossa Regal ...it's the 2nd biggest hosta in my garden
That's it for now! Thanks for looking!
Comments (36)
magpiepix 5b/6a
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoWell....sort of, lol. A first for this property...then I also have one from my daughter that rabbits got at during the winter...new tree last year - chewed the bark off and nearly killed the tree. Secondary branches growing fairly quickly but the main trunk had to be pruned. Oh oh, pic looks sideways on my iPad. Please let me know if I need to repost it? Thanks.
Related Discussions
Just Got my first 2 Japanese Maples...
Comments (0)WooHoo! Just Got my first 2 Japanese Maples! (online) I got a 'Katsura' and a 'Kamagata'... I plan to grow them in pots (in Al's Gritty Mix, of course). I'll probably (eventually) put the Katsura in the yard and get an additional one, two, or maybe even forty seven! I'm going to get a 7 foot 'Kinran' from my local nursery to replace the 2 White Mulberry Monstrosities that I'm cutting down. I had a regular maple that was in a spot that got too much water, grew too fast (making the wood weak), snapped in half in a thunderstorm and fell on my house, tearing up the 2 week old shingles that I had put on! I swore I would never have a maple OF ANY KIND in my yard. Now I'm addicted to JM's and talking about getting another 47! Life, it seems, is not without a sense of irony! (credit: Morpheus, of The Matrix) Any tips/advice would be appreciated! Spaceman...See MoreMy Japanese Maples that I got for $12 last Fall at Home Depot.
Comments (14)I'm in North Dallas. Home Depot currently has Bloodgood, Crimson Queen & Sango Kaku. Lowe's has the same standards and Osakazuki, Shishigashira, Trompenberg and Kagiri Nashiki.. In fact, just picked up two more Kagiri Nashiki today for half price. Calloway's has Bloodgood, Tamukeyama, Butterfly and Fireglow. Northhaven gardens has a pretty wide selection earlier in the year from Isleli's. Walton's also carries a pretty good selection....See MoreGot Japaneses Maple seeds. Now what?
Comments (5)Some additonal tips: Whether 120 degrees is perfect or not, I boil water on the stove and continuously test it by putting my finger in it. When I can keep my own finger in it for a substantial amount of time, say 10 seconds without pain - that's what I pour into jars with lids. For the quantity of seed for each jar, you need three times the volume in water. Also, I don't use a pre-set number of days for soaking them. I continuously repeat this until all seeds have sunk. Once your seed is cleaned (either de-winged or not - doesn't matter at all) you do not have to sow them all this winter as the seed will store for 2 years in the refridgerator "cold and dry." Label the ziplock bag/jar with the date of harvest and seed type. 90 days of cold stratification (I use sterilized sand versus peat moss, potting mix, etc - sand that has been cooked in the microwave for 3 minutes at a time.) Beware the sand will be very hot and will need to cool off before it is used. The sand of course for stratification needs to be moist but not wet. "Damp" is perfect. Jumble your seeds in your media of choice and label the bag as to when the seed went into cold strat and mark your calender 90 days ahead so you know when it will be time for "indoor sowing." (fluorescent lights are perfect) Freshly harvested seed (green) picked earlier is in fact better than brown seed. It germinates more uniformerly. Still requires cold stratification however. I like the poster above prefer sowing in flats - but you may also individually find the seeds in your cold strat bag/jar and plant the seed individually in cells of flats, or you may simply use a flat/tupperware container etc with potting mix and then transplant the saplings/seedlings to cells, etc. Come Spring, transplant your seedlings again to 4" containers or "tree band type pots" and then come early Fall, transplant these containers up to one-gallon/quart-sized containers always checking the pots (in the future) for when it's time to up-pot again. Root pruning also allows an individual to continue growing the seedling in smaller pots as you can cut back on the root system which will increase fibrous root production (only cut back 1/3 at any given time) and repot back to the smaller container. When root pruning is a desired approach, also cut back an equal amount of branches on the seedling to compensate for the loss of roots that are pruned out. This type of pruning allows for a much stronger root system in the future. Another very important note is for the first two years of a seedling's life, keep them under a large tree so they get dappled light and no full sun whatsoever or keep them in a dominately shady site versus sun. After that, you can move them to more sun, but remember that all these Maples perform best when they are in partial sun, however that's not to say they cannot be planted in full sun. As to potting mixes, I use a simple mix of 1/2 perlite to 1/2 peat moss. Mix garbage cans full in a wheel barrel. Do not fertilize the tender plants until they are potted up in the Spring. Even at this time, just sprinkle a small amount of a fertilizer such as 10-10-10 on the top of your pots. Another good idea for you is to up-pot them to styrofoam cups. Stryrofoam cups have insulative qualities which is good for small saplings when you're trying to overwinter them. Tree bands are better however. I use an Anderson Tree Band (Buy them from OBC Northwest in boxes of 200 per box for about 35-40 bucks a box). These pots don't allow root systems to encircle but force the roots to grow downward. A much superior pot... Good luck! Dax...See MoreDo I trim these long shoots on my Japanese Maple?
Comments (3)Hmm,you're at least the 4th person to have this happen here in recent weeks....just wish some of my maples would grow a bit more ha. It's not uncommon when conditions are favourable for maples to throw out vigorous shoots.It's certainly not a sign of ill health,quite the opposite.With some cultivars of maple it is undesirable to keep the vigorous growth,but I think with your maple it boils down to personal taste.The branches however may not necessarily keep their drooping stance and may grow more upright with time.I'm guessing the trees you have seen are what are referred to as 'dissectums'...their inherent deformities cause their leaves to be heavily dissected and their branches generally droop and twist more.Your maple is not one of these. Please note that if your tree is grafted and these shoots are coming from below the graft(you'll see a join very low down on the trunk)they should be removed....See More
don_in_colorado
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years ago
sandyslopes z5 n. UT
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agosandyslopes z5 n. UT
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
mkpearse (MI z6a)
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agomkpearse (MI z6a)
8 years agomagpiepix 5b/6a
8 years agoI'm in 5b and the only protection I give them are chicken wire (for the hungry mid-winter rabbits, who LOVE Japanese maples). I'm in a very sheltered area, though, with lots of fences and houses and wind block. It's probably a good idea to protect your tree from wind, josephine, for the first year or two. Burlap and a good mulching (kept away from the trunk) will help it be happier until it's really settled in your landscape. Also, when you plant it make sure to keep the soil at the level of the root flare-- most nursery JMs have the soil to high, and if they're planted that way the tree is unhappy.
Have you looked at other JMs yet? ;) My favorite, and the Maple Society's maple of the year this year, is Moonrise maple. It's a shirasawanum Japanese maple, so it's hardier than most. If you click on my photo there are two pictures. It has a beautiful yellow-green leaves with hints of peach and pink...I've always thought it would look amazing with the right combination of hostas.
irawon zone 5a Ottawa.ca
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agoirawon zone 5a Ottawa.ca
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agomkpearse (MI z6a)
8 years agomagpiepix 5b/6a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agomagpiepix 5b/6a
8 years agoMore Moonrise pics...
Spring color:
All of that gradually fades to its summer color (taken yesterday):
josephines167 z5 ON Canada thanked magpiepix 5b/6ajosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Jon 6a SE MA
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years agomagpiepix 5b/6a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
Don't even get me started on rabbits and JMs.... if I don't put chicken wire around all of mine (30+ and counting), the rabbits eat them down to the ground. They ate right through the trunk of a Red Dragon last winter when the snow got high enough for them to reach up and eat over the 24" fencing. My Mikawa yatsubusa was eaten completely back to the wire, so that in the spring it was the shape of a cylinder made of twigs.
Rabbits LOVE JMs. I spend a lot of time battling the rabbits in my yard-- especially in winter when they seem to prefer my JMs over everything else the neighborhood has to offer.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada thanked magpiepix 5b/6aDeb 215 SEWI5
8 years ago
peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada
8 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada thanked peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canadajosephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years ago
mbug_gw