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Japanese
Choose
the category of Japanese maples you'd like to look at, Sold out varieties:
Some of the cultivars now listed as New grafts ship after they leaf out. They're running late this year. |
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Dissectum or Laceleaf
types, mostly with a weeping/mounding, shrublike habit, to perhaps
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Linearilobum or bamboo-leaf types, semidwarfs, upright to 6-12', with narrow, spidery, but not lacy, leaves. |
Dwarf types may be laterally spreading, |
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Uprights are usually 15-20' tall in 10-15 years, with broad, palmate or deeply cut leaves. |
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Click here for info on tree sizes and prices
Click here for a Japanese Maple Slideshow
Our
thanks to the Don Schmidt wholesale nursery of Boring, Oregon, for the many
Japanese maple photos.
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The species Acer palmatum, the original Japanese Maple |
Introduction to Japanese Maples The term 'Japanese maple' mainly refers to cultivated varieties of Acer palmatum and its close relatives. The parent of all these varieties, a species Acer palmatum, is pictured to the left and right, in spring and fall, respectively. There are over 1000 cultivated varieties (cultivars) displaying a great variety in size, habit, leaf shape and color, texture, and fall coloration. There are cultivars suitable for most cultural situations, including sun, shade, container growing, and bonsai. The majority do well between USDA zones 5 and 9. Japanese maples are small enough to fit into most gardens, and although they cannot be grown as houseplants, they will thrive in a pot on a patio. In some cases, you don't even need more than one cultivar to have variety. A number of them have one color in spring, another in summer, and another in fall, and some even have winter interest. |
Acer palmatum in fall color. |
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Acer palmatum is extremely variable from seed, due to its genetic richness. This means that seedlings of the tree pictured above will not necessarily look like the parent, although most do. A significant minority of the seedlings will differ from the parent in color, leaf shape, habit, vigor, or other characteristics. Japanese growers discovered this variability hundreds of years ago, and began selecting and propagating the most interesting seedlings by vegetative means, mainly grafting. Growers all over the world continue to do this to the present day, so that new cultivars are always being discovered and introduced.
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The result of this selection is a bonanza for both gardeners and collectors. Because there is such a variation in size, habit, texture, and color, and because the trees are relatively small and thrive in different exposures, a garden could concievably consist of nothing but Japanese maples and still have great variety. There's a tree for every spot. Collectors are not so interested in spots, but focus more on the trees themselves, and collecting Japanese maples is pursued by many, with special value placed on rare and unusual cultivars. Of course, the collection can never be complete, because the genetic diveristy of maples assures that there will always be more new ones. ("Cultivar", or "cultivated variety" indicates a variety that doesn't have a natural population, but is maintained by propagation on the part of growers.)
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