I'm still here, there just been a wholeeeee lot of life in the way the last couple weeks. bdrusse, This looks pretty normal to me for a first year spring planted maple tree in the open. I see this allot in the area on Red and Sugar maples. It varies some with cultivar (i.e. Legacy seems to adjust a bit better than some of the others), but that is just a gross generalization. We have two Sugar Maples. One Commemoration and the other Fall Fiesta. The Commemoration was planted toward late spring, and eventually developed substantial leaf burn. Eventually I ended up use gallon jugs (about 1.5 gallons of water) with a pin size hole to water slowly every other day through the worst and driest part of summer. That prevented the burn from getting any worse, and the following year, it was fine with normal size leaves. The Fall Fiesta was planted in the fall. The following growing season leaves were near normal size, was some very moderate growth, and no burn occurred during summer. All of which is to say your tree looks about as expected for the circumstances for the amount of time it had to grow roots before leafing. It simply can not support more until there is an increase in root mass. IMHO the burn you are seeing is due to the hot and windy days we have had for the last month, and not enough root mass as of yet. Our Sugar Maples have been frosted almost every year (I live in a cold spot) to as low as 21-22 degrees, and have not suffered apparent freeze damage, so I don't think that was the problem. Just keep taking good care of it, and it should be fine next season. And in way of FYI, don't expect fall color this year, and you probable won't have allot next either. It takes a few years after planting for them to develop something like color. Three years for our Commemoration, and last year our Fiesta appeared as though it would have, but high very dry winds destroyed the show. Also be aware there is one flush of growth a year in the spring. Mine start in mid-April, and shoot elongation is done by 3-4 weeks, thought the leaves aren't yet fully mature. Lastly, leaf size varies with cultivar. The leaves of our Fiesta are significantly larger than the Commemoration. Do you know if and what cultivar you bought? Almost looks like Commemoration to me, but it's only a guess. Arktrees

Hi Christina & David! Sorry, I don't know anyone on the DBG horticulture staff. You might want to stop in the Library first (or call them in advance)--the head librarian (Deb) is very helpful. There used to be a gentleman named George Brinkmann, a retired horticulturist with many years of experience in this region, who held public "office hours" in the library a couple of days a week on Tues & Thurs early in the afternoon. However, I think he had some health problems and had to give that up last year, but maybe he's returned, or else maybe they've found a replacement for him. Other than those people, you might just get lucky and run into somebody knowledgeable about maples while you're in the gardens near those plants. I meant to mention before that my garden soil tests as very close to neutral Ph. I have heard the statement that soils here are quite alkaline, but I think that's a generalization. In addition, I personally favor making moderate amendments with peat and compost to tip things a bit more toward acidity if that's favorable for the plant. Almost any plant's roots will eventually spread into "native soil" but I'd rather the new plant be a little happier when it's first getting established, and I don't think I overdo the amendments. (I know there are other "camps" on this issue.) Yes, I'm going to take that magnolia back to Tagawa and get a refund. I'm not sure how they can sell trees at 50% off and still give a year's guarantee, unless many people don't bother claiming their refunds; I think they do ask you to bring them the dead tree! BTW, I'm sure there are various other places that sell JMs near here, and at more attractive prices--esp. "big box" stores, but they're less likely to have the unusual we sometimes need and crave. I'm fascinated by microclimates myself, but unfortunately I've been able to find very little written about the subject. From what I've been able to gather, there seem to be two aspects to plant hardiness. The easier one to deal with, probably, is the root zone temperature environment. I've read that damage starts to occur there at temps lower than 28 F. A good mulch layer can protect against this potential damage, and a nice layer of snow can do even better. However, cold air temperatures below some point will damage stems and branches, the point depending on the hardiness of the species. I think that's why some marginally-hardy trees are sometimes referred to as "stump-sprouts"--most of the above-ground parts of the plant die but the root system doesn't (at least for a number of years). Of course dessication is a separate problem for above-ground plant parts, especially in this sunny-winter climate. Other than the most general principles and trial-and-error, it seems difficult to predict microclimates. There are so many factors involved besides topography. For example,the influence of a building to the north of a plant may be very different depending on the building's height, mass, color (solar absorption) and configuration. Also, if one is depending on stored solar heat being radiated at night from a building face, it will make a big difference whether the days following the initial cold wave are sunny or cloudy, still or windy. Another aspect of the problem is how far away the influence of a building is felt and how fast the influence drops off with distance. I know of a student who is investigating this question at the U. of Denver near some of the larger buildings on the campus, but I haven't heard any of the findings yet. Christina, if you go, I'd like to hear your reaction to the various maples at the DBG!

$59 is a BARGAIN for a tree that size!! 15 gallon, 4-5' 'Crimson Queen's go for well over a hundred at most retail nurseries -- my own sells 5 gallons CQ's for $75. Because of the eventual mature spread, I'm not sure this would be my first choice for a long term container plant. It's just going be a lot harder to repot, root prune and provide other attention when you are working with a tree of this width. But it will certainly work for awhile :-) And for any long term container planting, especially Japanese maples, I'd look for the best potting soil you can find. It should have a high concentration of bark fines. There have been numerous dicussions on this forum regarding an appropriate mix. I've attached a link to a more recent one that generated a rather spirited discussion :-) One of the contributors (Al/tapla) is a widely recognized authority on container culture and you can safely take any of his recommendations to heart and with excellenst results. Here is a link that might be useful: J. maple potting soils

Maggie - I guess I don't have the book. I looked at the cover and thought I had it because the cover so closely resembles that of another author's book (Greg Vertrees). Peter Adams is well known for his ability to work maples, and the book looks like it should be much more comprehensive than the one I have, so I doubt you'd go wrong in acquiring it. It should go into a good deal of information on how to manage the canopy so it stays full and true to the tree. Houzi - am I to understand you want to maximize the number of cuttings you can take from one tree? Are you going to bury 2 nodes & leave 1 pair of leaves or take dormant cuttings? If you pinch out the center, it terminates THAT branch, but you'll get the next order of new branching from the leaf axils of the foliage behind the pinch. If you pinch those too, you can generate up to 10 successive orders of branches on trees like acer p 'mikawa yatsubusa'. I'm working one of those now and can't keep up with it unless I have it on the turntable every week - and I'm defoliating it like crazzy to slow it down and so I can see what I'm doing to even work it. I think all but the most lethargic trees should produce several orders of branches every growth cycle if you pinch. Maybe I didn't understand your question, but, if a bud breaks in spring and pushes a branch with 2 leaves and a center leader and you pinch out the center, it's not the end of the line for ANY extension. If you call the new branch a 2nd order branch, branches or buds that grow from that branch represent the 3rd order. If after you pinch out the center of the 2nd order and the 3rd order branches are growing and extending, on some trees they might generate up to a dozen pairs (or more) of 3rd order dormant buds in new leaf axils, but the internodes could be ugly long. Instead of allowing so many 3rd order leaves/dormant buds to form, pinch the center out of the first set of 3rd order branches so the 4th order forms. The sooner you pinch, the tighter the internodes are. I often use a set of tweezers to separate the newly forming leaves so I can get at the leader to pinch. You can't pinch too soon if you're after ramification. The more nodes, the smaller the leaves become AND the shorter all new internodes will become. Your tree can actually get to the point there are soo many growing apices to channel energy to that all get a very small portion - this = small leaves, very short internodes, and no need to manage for internode length - pruning only. Is anyone interested in starting a thread that deals with managing the canopy to keep your trees in shape? I'll answer whatever I can. Maples aren't the easiest trees to manage, for sure. Al