Field Maple varieties

[AJL]

I asked this on another forum and had no response so thought I would try asking over the pond!
Im wondering if anyone has tried growing any of the compact selections of Field Maple as bonsai? eg
Acer campestre ‘Elsrijk’
Acer campestre ' Streetwise'
Acer campestre 'Nanum' etc
Im hoping they would propagate /air layer as easily as the wild form? There are some nice specimens in streets near me which look likely candidates for air layering or cuttings!
They have good autumn colours, small leaves and short internodes

 

[BobbyLane]

As long as its Acer campestre youre good

Acer campestre/Field Maples – Bonsai4Me

www.bonsai4me.co.uk

 

[andrewiles]

I played with Carnival this year. Varigated, small leaves. I was successful with some softwood cuttings and an air layer has at least some roots right now, though not separated. But it does seem like a weak cultivar so far.

 

[rodeolthr]

I played with Carnival this year. Varigated, small leaves. I was successful with some softwood cuttings and an air layer has at least some roots right now, though not separated. But it does seem like a weak cultivar so far.

This one constantly reverts to green on me. I believe it wants more sun to retain the variegation, but too much and it seems to burn.

 

[AJL]

As long as its Acer campestre youre good

Acer campestre/Field Maples – Bonsai4Me

www.bonsai4me.co.uk

Thanks Bobby I think these compact forms are probably normally grafted by nursery growers to produce uniform street trees, so perhaps not many might think of airlayering them or growing from cuttings.

 

[AJL]

There is also a reddish leaf Field Maple form , Acer campestre ' Louisa Redshine ' which Im trying to track down - but I cannot find it locally ,though Barcham Trees list it in their wholesale catalogue- along with quite a few other cultivars. I wonder if anyone has seen or tried these as a bonsai?

Barcham pro trees

www.barchampro.co.uk

 

[BobbyLane]

barcham only sell straight up broomsticks, is that what youre after? ive not heard of any of the stuff youve mentioned. regular acer campestre can be found throughout the UK in many tree nursery outlets and even some garden centres as young whips or whips in bundles.

 

[penumbra]

Sounds intriguing. We don't have many cultivars in the US. At least few that I can find.

 

[AJL]

barcham only sell straight up broomsticks, is that what youre after? ive not heard of any of the stuff youve mentioned. regular acer campestre can be found throughout the UK in many tree nursery outlets and even some garden centres as young whips or whips in bundles.

Hi Bobby -No Im definitely not after a broomstick from Barchams nurseries !
Im looking for likely sources of propagation material -cuttings or like to find the nurseries who supply /propagate the the whips or liners Barcham grow their standard trees from. I I will try asking them!
I agree that wild Acer campestre is easy to find both in the wild and in nurseries but Im trying to do a more refined search for these selected forms :-
Acer campestre ‘Elsrijk’
Acer campestre ' Streetwise'
Acer campestre 'Nanum'
Acer campestre ' Louisa Redshine' etc
as I reckon they could have some good bonsai potential!
Has anyone had success growing Acer campestre from cuttings? I know the wild type roots from air layers....

 

[DeutschElmDisease]

I had one in my yard that's young, it's leaves were red for part of the year and then shifted green later in the growing season. I just yardadori'd it, cut it back, and potted it up to see what I could do. I'd never seen this tree before in my life, but it's the one that made me first interested in bonsai last year!

 

[Rivian]

Redness in the leaves is often environmental

 

[andrewiles]

This one constantly reverts to green on me. I believe it wants more sun to retain the variegation, but too much and it seems to burn.

I just took some pictures of mine. These shots are both from the same tree with similar lighting conditions for each branch:



As best I can tell all leaves from each bud are consistent with each other. A few are even solid green and a bunch are pure white. But a branch continues to change as you go down it -- I don't have any pure white or pure green branches. I recall more green shows as the season progresses and the leaves become more evenly varigated into summer. So, seems as if each bud on each branch has significant variability each season.