Japanese Maple 09B (Acer palmatum)
Informal upright

MARCH 1, 2024. I took this one to a regular Saturday workshop last fall, so I could get some other opinions about it from several people. I got some positive comments, and Jane helped me thin some of the wild growth. I put it back in the little blue pot last week, in a good akadama-pumice mix, and the plan is to work on branch refinement this year. I clumsily broke off part of the first branch, so I’ll have to let part of what remains grow long to replace that. It was the part that extended to the left of the trunk, and I really need to get some weight and body into into the replacement. The rest of the tree just gets pinched, adjusted, and loved on all year. I might have botched the trunk angle a little, but that’s fixable next year. Photos after leaves are hardened.

FEBRUARY 21, 2023. Last year I made a sketch of what I thought this tree could look like if I handled it well. I had KC look at it, I asked Jane to check it out, and everybody agreed: the top has to flow back to the right at the same angle at which the base leaves the soil. I will also have to twiddle the branches more than a little to get something growing on the left at some point in the bottom 10 or 12 inches of trunk! That’ll be a challenge.

Yesterday I repotted it with that in mind, but I’m afraid it’s not very stable. I used a cheap pot (pre-wired) I picked up at John Walker’s place, because I want room for a lot of growth and development this year. I just don”t have many spare pots any longer. The pot had no extra holes for wire, and I just tied a pair at the back and one at the front of the tree, so it’s a little unstable. I also checked the photos from last year, and I think I got the front to back angle of the trunk wrong as well. Back to the drawing board tomorrow (when the rain stops) to stabilize this one, adjust the trunk angle, and try to firm up the potting of Juniper 11. I”ll get a photo of this one before the rest of its leaves obscure the line of the trunk.

October 30, 2022. As I said I would do back in the spring, I’m starting a new page for this tree.

To recap from the “Maple Forest” page: This is actually one of three small maples I bought at Pepper Place Market a few years ago — Five years ago, I think. I bundled the three together and planted them in the garden. That worked OK for a while, but the other two were infected by some fungus and died. This one survived, and it’s a sturdy, fast-growing little thing. I’ve kept the slightly twisted trunk where it wrapped around the other two trees, and it has leaves that are a little more delicate than the average run-of-the-mill green acer palmatum. I find it very appealing, (By the way, I cut this one back, stuck the top in a flower pot, and have another one with this leaf shape. )

I think this one will eventually take on a willowy, feminine shape. If I can make it happen, I’ll keep the first branch, train the second one to move more to the left (instead of following the straight line from the back of the tree, and continue the willowy shape in the primary branches. Time will tell is this will work or not.

The two photos look a lot alike at first glance, but I prefer the way the branches look in the one that isn’t made from straight in front of the oval pot. It’ll be repotted next year without doubt.

Photos