Japanese Maple 10 (Acer palmatum)
Informal upright/Slant

APRIL 3, 2025. Repotted last month. Now that it has leafed out, I’ve taken the time to thin out the pads a good bit. I might even do more. No photo yet — still too early.

May 18, 2024

MAY 22, 2024. First-place ribbon at the show! This one didn’t go to the show last year because it had too many sun-spots on too many leaves. I was disappointed, but there you go. This year I took a little extra care, didn’t repot it, and wanted it to be show-ready. The only thing I did that perhaps I shouldn’t have was to slice off all the moss. I was afraid that the height of the moss meant roots were pushing the whole tree up and it needed a repot. I was afraid I might have to repot it this year, and that was in preparation for that. As it turned out, the growth was not bad, no repot was needed, and I kept the moss to use on other trees. Sort of a win-win in a way. To make things better, new moss began to grow on the exposed soil, so I had moss slices to use on other trees, not just to replace on this tree for the show.

I coddled the tree, but compared to the way it looked two years ago, it was a little bushy. the year off from the show in 2023 meant I had just let the thing grow wild — almost. Beginning in March I did some careful pruning on it, trying to recapture the spare elegance that attracted me to this one to begin with. That helped some, and I was much more diligent about controlling new shoots than I usually am. There are actually a couple of branches that Im encouraging to take over some places, but that’s a little different kind of control. I even took this one to the pre-show workshop and went through things with Doug. He was great, basically demonstrating how to make decisions about which leaves to retain and which to dispose of. Individual leaves! I took it back home with new eyes, cleaned it up some more, and got the first-place ribbon. Thank you Bobby!

September 18, 2022. Last spring (2021) I took this one to John Walker and he helped me repot it. He also had some inoculated moss that we sprinkled on the soil after it was done. This year it looked great when it started to leaf out, and the moss really took hold. I then took it to the club meeting two weeks before the show in May and got some help in reducing a couple of the pads. This was the only tree in the show to get an Honorable Mention. I couldn’t have been more surprised and happy. Thank you, Bobby. The only thing that concerns me is the leaf color. It seems to have reverted to a green leaf. One of the things that completely attracted me was the delicate leaf shade — sort of a salmon/gold, not-green hue. But now it’s just green! I NEED TO WORK ON THIS.

July 3, 2020. This was one of Bobby Popwell’s trees. Bobby died in April 2019, and Dianne kept most of his trees alive after his death. This week, I think largely at the insistence of Bobby’s sons, most of the surviving trees were given to the ABS. I helped relocate, inventory, and evaluate them this morning. The plan is to offer them to ABS members and ask that the recipient make a small donation to the club for the gift. There’s no way for the club to actually own trees, with no place to keep them at this time.

I looked at this tree when we went over to talk with the middle son and Dianne Sunday, then this morning I decided it was what I wanted for my collection. There’s been a little damage, some branches have died, but I don’t have anything like it on my bench. I think I “needed” it? Anyway, Bobby was a gentle soul, was a Russian interpreter in the military, a former policeman, a painter, and just in general one nice guy. He talked to me about getting a wisteria before I ever dug up a little one at Cook Hill. I’m honored to have his tree.