Favorite Maple Cultivar?

[Canada Bonsai]

I can't find any reference to "Yves's Select" on the web. Any links ?

I'm the only online retailer for 'Yves Select' that I'm aware of, but he has been selling it locally for 30+ years. Here's one:

Yves' Select 1

www.canadabonsai.com

I also retail his Arakawa, that I refer to as 'Yves' Arakawa'. There is some info here:

Yves' Arakawa 1

'Yves' Arakawa' is a rough bark Japanese Maple first identified by Yves Létourneau from Les Bonsai ENR (Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford, Quebec). The fortunate variation occurred as a single anomaly from a group of seeds that he planted roughly 35 years ago. The variety is especially well suited for...

www.canadabonsai.com

Next spring I'm going to be selling 'Yuki Hime' (with leaves at a maximum of 3cm--not inches, cm!), and 'Hauchiwa Kaede' (no, it's not a shirasawanum ). I imported these from Japan. Both have recently entered the bonsai scene in Japan, and are rapidly gaining in popularity. It will take a while before they start popping up i shows of course.

 

[AlainK]

I'm the only online retailer for 'Yves Select' that I'm aware of, but he has been selling it locally for 30+ years.

Very interesting, super intéressant.

Ca fait du bien de voir que des passionnés peuvent vivre de leurs découvertes, ou en tout cas les partager et ainsi continuer à travailler et vivre de son travail.

Bonne continuation, cousin de la belle Province"

Summary in English : Good to see that some people can not only live from their passion, but share their discoveries.

 

[AlainK]

I have this one which

... I could call Acer palmatum 'I need a haircut'

 

[AlainK]

I had three trees geminate from seeds collected on an Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'. I gave one to one of my nieces (no news from the tree, I'm afraid it's gone) and kept two.

One has short internodes and big leaves, and a bark typical of shirasawanum (April and today) :



The other one has much smaller leaves, grows at least twice as fast but has much smaller leaves (April and today) :



They're both from the same tree, Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'. Maybe the last one has hybridized with one of the 30 or so Acer palmatum cultivars I have.

But the size of the leaves and the apparent strength of the tree makes me feel lke air-layering it to work it as a "bonsai".

Here are a couple of pictures of the mother-tree, the last picture taken this evening :

 

[thatguy]

I'm the only online retailer for 'Yves Select' that I'm aware of, but he has been selling it locally for 30+ years. Here's one:

Yves' Select 1

www.canadabonsai.com

I also retail his Arakawa, that I refer to as 'Yves' Arakawa'. There is some info here:

Yves' Arakawa 1

'Yves' Arakawa' is a rough bark Japanese Maple first identified by Yves Létourneau from Les Bonsai ENR (Saint-Joachim-de-Shefford, Quebec). The fortunate variation occurred as a single anomaly from a group of seeds that he planted roughly 35 years ago. The variety is especially well suited for...

www.canadabonsai.com

Next spring I'm going to be selling 'Yuki Hime' (with leaves at a maximum of 3cm--not inches, cm!), and 'Hauchiwa Kaede' (no, it's not a shirasawanum ). I imported these from Japan. Both have recently entered the bonsai scene in Japan, and are rapidly gaining in popularity. It will take a while before they start popping up i shows of course.

View attachment 332105

View attachment 332106

Very interesting on those two cultivars! Especially the one you are calling Hauchiwa Kaede! I double checked in Kyuzo Murata's book Four Seasons of Bonsai and on pgs 55 and 101 he lists a Hinauchiwa Kaede maple. Same cultivar? See pics below.

Speaking of older maple cultivars does anyone have experience with Chizome?

 

[AlainK]

Very interesting : I wondered if my A. shir. 3 was not a form of A. shir. tenuifolium : it looks like it, but what are the genetics of A. shir. 'Autumn Moon' and a possible parentage with other palmate species ?...

It's a mystery : when the mystery's solved, there's no excitement.

I love mystery

 

[MACH5]

Impossible for me to choose. But one that I love and was able to air layer successfully last year is A. palmatum 'Higasayama'. Incredible coloration in spring! My air layer was a twin trunk but it struggled in the begging and I lost the smaller trunk. This year it gained quite a bit of strength and perhaps one day I can make it into a bonsai. At the moment just happy it's thriving. Below are a couple of photos from the internet.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Very interesting on those two cultivars! Especially the one you are calling Hauchiwa Kaede! I double checked in Kyuzo Murata's book Four Seasons of Bonsai and on pgs 55 and 101 he lists a Hinauchiwa Kaede maple. Same cultivar?

Good eye and memory! Really appreciate you brining this to my attention, thank you!

I reached out to Japan and was told that they are closely related, but the strain i have is being propagated from a relatively recent seedling with favorable traits, and so it can’t be generically ‘identical’, so to speak

I also learned that in Japan what they normally call “hauchiwa” have big 4-5” leaves, and this strain with smaller leaves is referred to as “kohauchiwa”

 

[Ohmy222]

Impossible for me to choose. But one that I love and was able to air layer successfully last year is A. palmatum 'Higasayama'. Incredible coloration in spring! My air layer was a twin trunk but it struggled in the begging and I lost the smaller trunk. This year it gained quite a bit of strength and perhaps one day I can make it into a bonsai. At the moment just happy it's thriving. Below are a couple of photos from the internet.

View attachment 332136

View attachment 332137

Yeah, I layered one this year actually myself. Rooted suprisingly quick. They are beautiful in spring as they uncoil. They do lose some variegation in Georgia summers. Never seen one for bonsai.

 

[MACH5]

Yeah, I layered one this year actually myself. Rooted suprisingly quick. They are beautiful in spring as they uncoil. They do lose some variegation in Georgia summers. Never seen one for bonsai.

It took mine quite a bit to root although I was able to do it within the same growing season. I know of one person in the UK who has a beautiful old bonsai specimen of this cultivar.

 

[0soyoung]

It took mine quite a bit to root although I was able to do it within the same growing season. I know of one person in the UK who has a beautiful old bonsai specimen of this cultivar.

Peter Warren, aka Sarayama Bonsai
I was unaware that you know him personally - I just follow him on instagram.

Congratulations on succeeding with an air layer - I gave up after close to a decade of repeated failures and am now in the process of making my (to be, maybe) bonsai by foliage replacement grafting, in effect (only two branches so far and need one or two more). Is your 'mother' tree young? Mine is a landscape planting that is close to 15 feet tall and must be something like 20 years old now.

I agree that it is an eye-popping (pun, since it is also know as the 'popcorn maple') unique show in spring!

 

[Mapleminx]

@MACH5 this is my favorite one of your trees. You have so many gorgeous specimens in your garden but this one stole my heart when I saw it.
I can only hope that one day I have something at least half as fantastic as that tree.

 

[Mapleminx]

The other one has much smaller leaves, grows at least twice as fast but has much smaller leaves (April and today) :

View attachment 332117 View attachment 332118

They're both from the same tree, Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'. Maybe the last one has hybridized with one of the 30 or so Acer palmatum cultivars I have.

But the size of the leaves and the apparent strength of the tree makes me feel lke air-layering it to work it as a "bonsai".

Ooooh now that’s intriguing! please keep me updated on if you decide to air layer and go for it!!

 

[Canada Bonsai]

@0soyoung i believe Peter sold it 1-2 years ago to Mick (@budan_bonsai on instagram). Mick has posted 3-4 lovely pics of it, it's worth taking a look!

Very curious to see how the junctions of your grafts progress over time! I have only ever seen Higasayama with the ugly landscape-industry grafts, all of which have had the characteristic swelling (like Peter Warren's has) that occurs when two strains are growing at difference paces. You're our last hope @0soyoung -- if we're lucky the grafts will be invisible over time! With a total foliage replacement, are all of your grafts being done on the trunk? Or are you also grafting Higasayama to existing primary branches? All thread grafts i imagine?

I'm very curious to see how @MACH5 's does on its own roots too!

 

[0soyoung]

@Canada Bonsai, thanks for the pointer to @budan_bonsai --> now following on insta.

I have two Higi branches thread grafted to a generic green palmatum trunk. Both are growing well with nothing unusual in the appearance around the union. Otherwise I am trying to graft free Higi scions onto branches --> nothing but a demonstration of my incompetence at it thus far.

I expect that Higasayama will do just fine on its own roots, but @MACH5 has the only instance, AFAIK.

 

[AlainK]

Ooooh now that’s intriguing! please keep me updated on if you decide to air layer and go for it!!

I will probably have forgotten about your post when it's time to do it, but remind me if it's successful and I post photos : bare-root trees don't weigh much so it isn't very expensive to send in Europe.

 

[clem]

Simply put, what is your favorite or your dream maple cultivar?

seigen aurea

 

[Johnnyd]

I have had 2 Beni Hime and both died realitively quick. They tend to get a lot of fungal issues. Most hime maples do but this is this one is known for it. One of the few maples that that like it dry too. Do plan to try again. They pretty much have the smallest leaves of any maple, very small. There is one called Otaha that is supposedly a better version but I have never seen one.

What location was it growing? I have a theory I want to test. The cultivar is known to be weak in shade/part sun. I was planning to see if placing it in full sun and thinning out the branches by 50 percent increases vigor. I think the cultivar's tendency to produce too many thin spaghetti like branches contributes to the weakening of the tree.
I've seen threads where it is said to be weak on it's own roots. Maybe with the full sun there will be a difference. Since it has been used historically in bonsai there should be a way to approach its issues.

 

[Ohmy222]

What location was it growing? I have a theory I want to test. The cultivar is known to be weak in shade/part sun. I was planning to see if placing it in full sun and thinning out the branches by 50 percent increases vigor. I think the cultivar's tendency to produce too many thin spaghetti like branches contributes to the weakening of the tree.
I've seen threads where it is said to be weak on it's own roots. Maybe with the full sun there will be a difference. Since it has been used historically in bonsai there should be a way to approach its issues.

Partial shade. The ones I had were still on their own roots. I have never seen one as a bonsai. Just googled and saw a couple but not certain they are Beni Hime as the two I had had extremely small leaves. Much smaller than the ones in the search results. I have definintely read and heard they don't like being wet.

 

[Arlithrien]

I am fond of vigorous, large-growing, upright cultivars.

First there's glowing embers which is vigorous and grows quite large. It was bred primarily for heat tolerance. It also has small leaves so it is suitable for bonsai.

Seiryu encapsulates what I like in palmatum cultivars: interesting and strong. Despite being a laceleaf it has an upright growing habit and is exceptionally vigorous.

My dream cultivar would be a rough-bark maple with thin, red leaves similar to that of fireglow. Ones that you can stand under and enjoy the sun passing through them. Additionally, it would have smaller leaves for bonsai compatibility. It would also have utmost size and vigor, growing large to Bloodgood size so it can shower your whole house is year-round red fall color.