The mounding up you are hoping for might take many years. You must take a firm stake and insert it near the base of the tree, checking first to see if you can find a place where it can be driven through mostly unoccupied soil (pull some back with your hands if you have to to find out) - you don't want to hit a larger root with it and push it down, bark it or break it off. Select a suitably flexible branch near the center of the tree and tie it securely to the stake at several points, so that it is parallel to the stake. You must assume the plant will grow sideways again from the point where the stake ends and therefore use a stake tall enough to elevate the crown as high as desired - after the stake has been driven into the ground. So, if you want the tree to have a top that branches mostly at 6' tall, you need a stake that is more than 6' long.

Another angle....m This post was edited by Cal_00 on Sun, Aug 10, 14 at 20:07

From any other Japanese maple. Regardless of the cultivar of Japanese maple, seedlings from that tree will always be considered just generic species Acer palmatum. Some specialized Japanese maple nurseries may have seedling species plants on hand - they use them for grafting rootstock - and now and again, some larger retail nurseries may have more mature straight species JM's for sale. Otherwise, plant sales, specially like Master Gardener sales, and farmer's markets will often have seed grown Japanese maples available. Be aware of those that they try to pass off as a specific cultivar - the only way you can propagate a named form of Japanese maple is by grafting or, very rarely, from cuttings.

I've done jobs with different oil products but used the Rubio only twice. One turned out perfect. It was a mix of White and Pure on rift sawn White Oak. The owner insisted on using a green finish with no solvents and I warned her it was fine except for potential issues with dog accidents. You can probably guess what happened. The second was Super White that we water popped. It ended up with some cloudy areas which points out issues with finishing technique. The floor needs to be sanded perfectly and scrupulously cleaned before oil application, and the finish needs to be removed completely or it will be cloudy. I just finished a natural color job with WOCA. It turned out nice in the end but took a bit of work. We washed the freshly sanded floor with the Wood Cleaner. The effect of the water made the floor look less smooth than desired. We tried extra coats, abraded with an abrasive nylon pad then re-oiled to the same end. Then we re-screened the floor, applied two more coats and it looks great. I think I'd forgo the cleaning step in the future. I like the idea of the Rubio and even have enough material in stock to do my own floor however I like the ease of maintenance and relative simplicity of the WOCA product line. The Rubio Soap is crazy expensive IMO. Coloring my opinion is that my local Rubio distributor is somewhat pathetic. I found a distributor in GA that carries WOCA and Rubio so that will at least put that issue to rest and give me a resource with expertise to draw on. I like the Rubio Smoke, Fumed and Precolor products for the breadth of unique looks it can achieve when used with their products. The bad? It requires more routine maintenance than poly. It's more susceptible to minor spills and stains. You are unlikely to find maintenance product for sale locally, so stock up. I have two older parquet floors in a wood that's no longer available. I plan on sanding it, wire brushing it, then applying a mix of White and Super White with the idea that the floor will go from it's current dark mahogany look, to a coffee with cream color with white in the deeper grain. I don't know that I'd use it in my own kitchen even though I can pay my own workers to change it fairly effortlessly. I am something of a skeptic when reading the claims of the wonders of the new generation of oil finishes, even though I'd like them to be true.