J & G's Japanese Maple Nursery, Woodleaf, North Carolina

[Bonsai Nut]

As many of you know, I struggled with Japanese Maples in Southern California due to the dry air and alkaline water. Now that I live in North Carolina, my maples are growing like weeds, and I have been scouting far and wide to find great sources so that I can expand my collection. Imagine my pleasure when I located a real gem of a nursery in rural Woodleaf, NC, just over 20 miles from my home.

J&G's Japanese Maple Farm
2125 NC-801
Woodleaf, NC 27054
(336) 528-0808
jgsjapanesemaples@gmail.com



J&G stands for "Josue" and "Gillian" and they live in the front of the property. A short gravel drive that winds down the side gives little indication of the wonders you are about to observe...



Japanese maples! Tons of them! Loads of cultivars in sizes from one gallon up to large landscape trees. A. palmatum, A. japonicum, A. shirasawanum... plus a smattering of ornamental conifers just to keep you guessing (though Josue considers JM his "wheelhouse" and where he focuses the majority of his attention). Much of his source material comes from Oregon, though he also propagates a ton of material himself. Note that all of these photos were taken today, July 11, so you are seeing trees in their summer coloration.



I spent most of my time in the one gallon section (this trip) since I was shopping for trees that would fit in the back of my SUV. Prices were very good, particularly considering the quality and size of the stock that was being sold as one gallons.



Yes, all the trees were tagged Josue and I were laughing about it. His lifeblood is knowing what cultivars he has, and knowing what cultivars he is propagating. Organization and detail are critical. Even so, mistakes are made, and Josue showed me some of the trees he has set aside because they either lost their tags, or (in one case) the tree was tagged but he didn't believe the tag was correct. He won't sell a cultivar unless he is certain of what he is selling.



Moving further into the nursery I started seeing larger 3 and 5-gallon trees.



Josue has a soft spot for variegated foliage. Tons of variegated cultivars in evidence.



Some of the larger landscape trees showed an amazing amount of coloration for July. We discussed how different conditions can trigger very different color changes in some JM cultivars. As an example, Josue showed me some of his A. shir. "Autumn Moon" that he has under shade cloth that were completely green. Mine (at home in my nursery in full sun) is a bright orange.



Josue keeps a tent of source material, experiments, and "mother trees" that aren't for sale... though grafts and cuttings from the trees are. When I asked him about products specifically for the bonsai community, Josue told me he is planning on a line of cultivars propagated from cuttings - cultivar material on their own roots so you wouldn't have to worry about grafts.



More trees... with a cedar and cypress thrown in for contrast.



And now some beauty shots of foliage...













Special thanks to Josue for opening on a Monday to allow me to visit and take these photos. I am now the proud owner of 13 of his trees, and more are definitely in the future!

He does ship and will occasionally sell on eBay or Facebook. However nothing beats a personal visit, in my opinion Surprisingly centrally located considering how remote it feels. Only about 50 miles NE of Charlotte, and 40 miles south of Winston-Salem. Make sure you bring a tall truck!!

 

[19Mateo83]

Hot damn! I’m definitely gonna hit that one up! Thank you for this B-nut. What are the prices like for the one gallons and did he have any non grafted trees available?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

One gallons he was selling for $30. Three gallon trees were $50, which I think is an incredible bargain compared to what other nurseries in the area are charging. He did not have any non-grafted trees available (yet). He grows a lot of non-descript maples from seed in order to use as grafting root-stock, but didn't want to sell any of them because he needed every last one. However he is very aware of the need for non-grafted stock for the bonsai community. I think I may even have talked him into going to the Kannapolis Show... at which point he may be lost (or found, depending on your perspective).

 

[Deleted member 32750]

Excellent write up! I will have to add this nursery to the list for me to visit.

I know I’ve mention Get Rooted Plant Nursery in Chapel Hill, NC in a previous thread before but I highly recommend you make a plan to visit them at some point.

I got this 7 gal? Katsura maple for $50 from them which is an unheard of price for this size of maple.

 

[penumbra]

I think I may even have talked him into going to the Kannapolis Show

I wish they could make way for him as a vendor. I will be there with my pots.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I wish they could make way for him as a vendor. I will be there with my pots.

Vendor tables sold out almost instantly, as did the exhibition tables. I just saw the banquet is sold out as well.

However the exhibition is free, so I'm hoping we get a ton of people who are just checking out bonsai for the first time.

 

[Srt8madness]

Great write up!

 

[Shogun610]

I just love finding new nursery’s just to look in their back section in the overgrown and forgotten island of misfits .. did they have a section like that?

 

[geargarcon]

Great write up. Wish I had read it before I pulled the trigger on a couple of cultivars on eBay.

 

[n8]

Nice. I mailed ordered a few JMs from Josue five or six years ago for landscaping. Exceptionally friendly via email. Good to see his business growing.

 

[namnhi]

Shame I don't live close by. I love JMs but the constant 105 degree here really burnt them up.

 

[CarolinaBonsai]

As many of you know, I struggled with Japanese Maples in Southern California due to the dry air and alkaline water. Now that I live in North Carolina, my maples are growing like weeds, and I have been scouting far and wide to find great sources so that I can expand my collection. Imagine my pleasure when I located a real gem of a nursery in rural Woodleaf, NC, just over 20 miles from my home.

J&G's Japanese Maple Farm
2125 NC-801
Woodleaf, NC 27054
(336) 528-0808
jgsjapanesemaples@gmail.com

View attachment 446556

J&G stands for "Josue" and "Gillian" and they live in the front of the property. A short gravel drive that winds down the side gives little indication of the wonders you are about to witness...

View attachment 446558

Japanese maples! Tons of them! Loads of cultivars in sizes from one gallon up to large landscape trees. A. palmatum, A. japonicum, A. shirasawanum... plus a smattering of ornamental conifers just to keep you guessing (though Josue considers JM his "wheelhouse" and where he focuses the majority of his attention). Much of his source material comes from Oregon, though he also propagates a ton of material himself. Note that all of these photos were taken today, July 11, so you are seeing trees in their summer coloration.

View attachment 446559

I spent most of my time in the one gallon section (this trip) since I was shopping for trees that would fit in the back of my SUV. Prices were very good, particularly considering the quality and size of the stock that was being sold as one gallons.

View attachment 446560

Yes, all the trees were tagged Josue and I were laughing about it. His lifeblood is knowing what cultivars he has, and knowing what cultivars he is propagating. Organization and detail are critical. Even so, mistakes are made, and Josue showed me some of the trees he has set aside because either they lost their tags, or (in one case) the tree was tagged but he didn't believe the tag was correct. He won't sell a cultivar unless he is certain of what he is selling.

View attachment 446561

Moving further into the nursery I started seeing larger 3 and 5-gallon trees.

View attachment 446562

Josue has a soft spot for variegated foliage. Tons of variegated cultivars in evidence.

View attachment 446563

Some of the larger landscape trees showed an amazing amount of coloration for July. We discussed how different conditions can trigger very different color changes in some JM cultivars. As an example, Josue showed me some of his A. shir. "Autumn Moon" that he has under shade cloth that were completely green. Mine (at home in my nursery in full sun) is a bright orange.

View attachment 446564

Josue keeps a tent of source material, experiments, and "mother trees" that aren't for sale... though grafts and cuttings from the trees are. When I asked him about products specifically for the bonsai community, Josue told me he is planning on a product line of cultivars propagated from cuttings - cultivar material on their own roots so you wouldn't have to worry about grafts.

View attachment 446565

More trees... with a cedar and cypress thrown in for contrast.

View attachment 446566

And now some beauty shots of foliage...

View attachment 446567

View attachment 446568

View attachment 446569

View attachment 446570

View attachment 446571

View attachment 446572

Special thanks to Josue for opening on a Monday to allow me to visit and take these photos. I am now the proud owner of 13 of his trees, and more are definitely in the future!

He does ship and will occasionally sell on eBay or Facebook. However nothing beats a personal visit, in my opinion Surprisingly centrally located considered how remote it feels. Only about 50 miles NE of Charlotte, and 40 miles south of Winston-Salem. Make sure you bring a tall truck!!

Wow! This looks awesome. Thanks for the write up!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Shame I don't live close by. I love JMs but the constant 105 degree here really burnt them up.

I feel your pain. When I lived in SoCal my trees would look great... until the first Santa Ana of the year would blow in from the desert. Then all the leaves would crisp, they would completely defoliate, and would have to push a new round of growth. The 3rd time it happened each year, the trees would be dead.

The only way I was even marginally successful was to keep JM in wind protection, in complete shade, and use acid fertilizer. But the trees always looked a little sad. The minute they arrived in NC they exploded with healthy new growth.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I just love finding new nursery’s just to look in their back section in the overgrown and forgotten island of misfits .. did they have a section like that?

Yes... he had ton of projects that were experiments or practice, including some trunk chops, some interesting grafts (for example a bloodgood grafted on arakawa rootstock) and like any nursery, trees with damage that weren't suitable for regular retail sale. This being the peak of summer, it is normally a slow time of year for him. His stock he felt was low (though it didn't appear that way to me) and he apologized for weeds - because we have just gotten a ton of rain over the last week, and he works a full-time job in addition to the nursery business.

2020 was a crazy year for him, because with the pandemic and people staying home from work, everyone decided they needed to plant landscape trees and he wasn't ready for it (who was?) 2021 was a little more moderate, but for 2022 he wasn't sure how much inventory to order. He is just about the point where he is considering his first employee to help out with propagation tasks... and hopefully we can send some business his way to ease that transition!

 

[penumbra]

If he had a website that offered mail order sales I would be on board. I buy several maples and other plants online every year and many come out of NC. But I don't do facebook and don't presently have time for road trips. My loss I suppose.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

If he had a website that offered mail order sales I would be on board. I buy several maples and other plants online every year and many come out of NC. But I don't do facebook and don't presently have time for road trips. My loss I suppose.

We talked about this exact topic. He had a mail order web site, but closed it down when he bought the current nursery (which I believe sits on 13 acres). I think right now he uses online sales to fill in his business during quiet times of the year for retail. However if you are looking for a specific cultivar, I'll bet you could contact him directly and ask.

 

[ZombieNick]

I feel your pain. When I lived in SoCal my trees would look great... until the first Santa Ana of the year would blow in from the desert. Then all the leaves would crisp, they would completely defoliate, and would have to push a new round of growth. The 3rd time it happened each year, the trees would be dead.

The only way I was even marginally successful was to keep JM in wind protection, in complete shade, and use acid fertilizer. But the trees always looked a little sad. The minute they arrived in NC they exploded with healthy new growth.

This is my experience exactly, from the Santa Anas to the alkaline water. I haven't even tried to bonsai mine, they are just landscape trees and they still give me hell. That looks like a gem of a nursery and those prices are amazing compared to what they charge here.

 

[GGB]

looks heavenly, now if only my backyard was shrouded in shade netting haha

 

[Bonsai Nut]

looks heavenly, now if only my backyard was shrouded in shade netting haha

You'd be surprised at the number of landscape JM I see here in full sun. I think humidity, good water, and acidic soil are probably more important. Certainly the red leaf cultivars can handle more sun than the greens, and the palmate leafed ones more than the dissectums. But for many cultivars if you don't give them ENOUGH sun you start to lose their summer coloration.

 

[GGB]

You'd be surprised at the number of landscape JM I see here in full sun. I think humidity, good water, and acidic soil are probably more important. Certainly the red leaf cultivars can handle more sun than the greens, and the palmate leafed ones more than the dissectums. But for many cultivars if you don't give them ENOUGH sun you start to lose their summer coloration.

No trouble growing landscape maples here, it's when the pot starts getting small that the trouble starts. Switched out all my palmatums for tridents but the problems remain.