From Mr. Maple online, planted in fall 2017
Photos
Expectations:
The only upright dissected Japanese maple. It gets quite large and tree like, not a small specimen. It needs shade in our bright New Mexico sunlight. It's also going to need some artful pruning to get an elegant shape. In its youth, it is shaggy.
Experiences:
I originally had this in a pot by the deck. It was a beautifully leafy, large specimen when it arrived mail order. In 2019 I re-potted it to the larger 20 inch turquoise container.
This fluffy, delicate tree looks fantastic. Very fresh green foliage and lots of it, full of movement when the wind blows its fine leaves and delicate branches.
In the pot the tree was bendy and top heavy -- the leaves are small and fine, but there are a lot of them and the sapling struggled to stay upright in the winds. I did some pruning - about 1/3 off in spring 2020 and that helped.
In the pot the tree was bendy and top heavy -- the leaves are small and fine, but there are a lot of them and the sapling struggled to stay upright in the winds. I did some pruning - about 1/3 off in spring 2020 and that helped.
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| May 20, 2021 |
In early March 2021 I un-potted it and put it in the dining room window garden, under the cottonwood and instantly liked how it looked in its new location next to the curved bridge.
It's going to offer leafy screening filling the window that the limbed up aspen and cottonwood don't provide.
It's in some shade there. It did beautifully after transplant, really settled in and thrived.
And in fall 2021, after a good monsoon season and with no early frost, it colored scarlet red for the first time, just spectacular.
In 2022 it looked open and thready, just not robust and nowhere near as full and fluffy as it did the first year after transplant.
But by 2023 it was doing well again, filling out a little and with fantastic fall color in November.
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| 2023 |