![]() |
Maples in the greenhouse |
The maples are well into leaf in our greenhouses, and almost
daily I inspect my holdings. For nearly five months previous I had nothing more
than dormant sticks in pots with identifying plastic labels. That wasn't any
fun, but now I am able to see their exciting differences. Once again we wake up
with each other, and like a fresh spring bride, everything is full of promise.
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Katsura' |


Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream'
Acer palmatum 'Akane'
Generally the Acer japonicums open first, followed by
palmatums and then the shirasawanums. Since many cultivars of the alleged
shirasawanum species are in fact hybrids with palmatum, some intermediacy in
leafing out is apparent. Of course there are exceptions to the general rule,
such as Acer palmatums 'Katsura', 'Orange Dream' and 'Akane' leafing out as
quickly as any of the japonicums. These early-birds frighten me with their
vulnerability, as only freaks of nature would dare to foliate so early. One of
the advantages of owning or working in a nursery is that we receive two
springs: one first from inside the greenhouses, then the other three weeks
later from out in the garden.

Acer palmatum 'Phoenix'
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Phoenix' |
Inside are a couple of impressive selections from Dick van
der Maat from Boskoop, The Netherlands. Acer palmatums 'Phoenix' and 'Hino tori
nishiki' both feature pinkish-red new growth. 'Phoenix' will form a compact
broad shrub – in the garden – but more upright in the Buchholz container
culture. Today its small leaves are brightly pink-red with yellow veins, then
they evolve to a more green color by summer, while portions of red still remain
at the margins. Fall color ranges from yellow to red, often on the same leaf at
the same time.
![]() |
Herodotus |
![]() |
Phoenix |
I like the word phoenix, and it's a Greek
mythological term that refers to a long-lived bird that is cyclically reborn.
In association with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the
ashes of its predecessor, but according to some legends the old bird could live
to over 1,400 years before rebirth. Descriptions vary as to the color of the
phoenix, but the Greek Herodotus (the Father of History) claimed that it was
red and yellow – the same color of Acer palmatum 'Phoenix'. Hmm, did van der
Maat know all of this?
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Hino tori nishiki' |
![]() |
Firebird Ballet Dancer |
Van der Maat's Acer palmatum 'Hino tori nishiki' is pretty
much the same as 'Phoenix', and why not, for the Japanese name translates as
“Firebird Variegated.” It is variegated in the sense that older leaves are
green with a dusting of pink coloration, and also that these greenish leaves
form the base of the shrub, while newer shoots above display a vibrant
pink-red. The “firebird” myth is from Slavic folklore, and it is a glowing bird
from a faraway land. It is magical of course, and even one feather can light a
large room. The most famous use of the firebird legend was Igor Stravinsky's ballet score, The Firebird, first
produced by Sergei Diaghilev's company Ballet Russe.
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Taylor' |
![]() |
Taylor Lindeman |
I didn't intend for this to be a Dick van der Maat blog, but
let's stick with him for one more of his selections, Acer palmatum 'Taylor'.
This colorful willowy bush is solidly pink today, but soon portions of
lime-green will appear on the tiny leaves. One year we received a bright hot
day in April and Taylor's foliage burned. Partly due to that stress, the
foliage was dusted in June with powdery mildew. I thought about dumping the
entire crop because I was so embarrassed, but I never got around to issuing the
decree. In August they shot out two feet of vigorous branches and they looked
great again. Overall the cultivar is worth growing I think, and we are licensed
to propagate it in America. It was named for Taylor Lindeman, the granddaughter
of van der Maat's sister.
Acer palmatum 'Green River'
Acer palmatum 'Green River' should perhaps be renamed Acer x
'Green River' for it is likely a hybrid of shirasawanum and palmatum. It has
yet to leaf out, another indication that it contains some shirasawanum blood.
But since its seed dangles beneath the foliage, unlike the upright samaras of
the shirasawanums, I have decided to call it a palmatum. I am not a guy who
likes to make up botanical rules, as I am not qualified, but I've pleaded in
the past for an “expert” to weigh in, to shine some light on horticulture's
gray areas. I suspect that plants are like people, where you can be one-fourth
or one-sixteenth Indian or black or oriental. But with the batch of seedlings
that resulted in one being selected as 'Green River', some of the others had
seed rising above the foliage. A mongrel horde, as it were. In any case, 'Green
River' – a compact laceleaf – was named for its “flowing” leaves. A larger specimen
must be seen to understand what I mean by the tree's flow.
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Kotobuki' |
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Orido no nishiki' |
Acer palmatum 'Saiho'
Acer palmatum 'Saiho' is another new cultivar that I
received via the same Japan-to-Europe route. “Cute” would be the best
description for it, for the tiny yellow-green leaves are edged in red. It forms
a dense round bush, but unfortunately it is difficult (for me) to propagate due
to the short, very thin shoots. Often with these dwarves, we find them easier
to produce from rooted cuttings rather than from grafting, although the former
method will result in a weaker, more dwarf tree. I never charge enough for the
few 'Saiho' that I do sell, for they grow at about one-fourth the rate as most
other cultivars. On the other hand, I have many happy customers.
Acer palmatum 'Orangeola'
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Brocade' |
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Brocade' |
![]() |
Acer palmatum 'Brocade' |
Is that a group of Acer palmatum 'Orangeola' or Acer
palmatum 'Brocade'? Well, you won't know until you see the label, for the two
cultivars are identical. I grew 'Brocade' early in my career, but found that
the sales appeal was far less than with other more-red cultivars such as 'Red
Dragon', 'Tamuke yama' etc. In the mid-1980's, along came 'Orangeola'. It
originated as a seedling – from what I don't know – in an Oregon maple-growing nursery,
and they propagated a few for the heck of it. A plant broker that represented
the grower saw them in the field, and asked what it was. The grower responded
that it had no name, but invited the broker to give it one. Plant middle-men
are an interesting group, but let's just say you wouldn't want your daughter to
marry one. Anyway, he named it 'Orangeola' which I thought was a horrible name.
For a few years I simply called it 'Orange', refusing to acknowledge
'Orangeola', but eventually I relented when it came time to sell a crop.
According to the “rules” of nomenclature, a proposed cultivar must be
sufficiently different from any other, and as I mentioned 'Orangeola' is not
sufficiently different from 'Brocade'. But in our wild-west atmosphere
no one follows “no stinking rules” anyway, and the market will always trump the
stuffy world of nomenclatural propriety. And while I can barely sell 'Brocade',
for years I have sold tons of 'Orangeola', so the huckster broker gets the last
laugh.

Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood'
Anyway, when you google Acer palmatum, three suggested
searches are presented: Acer palmatum, Acer palmatum Bloodgood and Acer
palmatum Butterfly. I can understand the Bloodgood, for there must still be
thousands of them sold every year, but the name has taken on a more broad
meaning than signifying just one particular clone. The true 'Bloodgood' in
commerce is difficult to determine, as many 'Bloodgood'-like seedlings have
been peddled as the real clone. We grow what I have sort-of-named 'Bloodgood
Original', and only propagate from that source, as it indicates that the scions
came from the original 'Bloodgood' tree. Remember that there are a lot of
idiots (at best) and scoundrels (at worst) in horticulture – whether they come
from Europe, America or New Zealand – and many other cultivars have been
diluted as well. New Zealand's 'Fireglow' is a washed out version of the
original which is from the Italian Gilardelli Nursery. New Zealand's 'O
sakazuki' is different from the tree cultivar which received the prestigious
RHS Award of Garden Merit. Even though the offending company in New Zealand
acknowledges that their dubious clones might not be identical to the originals,
still they export them into Europe and America by the thousands, as if gripers
like me are being unnecessarily petty.
Acer palmatum 'Shojo no mai'
I find the third choice when you google Acer palmatum – 'Butterfly' – to be quite odd. I know a few
companies still produce it, but I gave up on the selection twenty five years
ago, and no one ever requests it from me now. You can find a couple of scrappy
'Butterfly' for sale at The Home Depot, and usually they come with undersized
rootballs with the burlap wrapped a foot up the trunk, and all held together
with orange plastic twine that will eventually girdle the tree. Nice. The
supplier is invariably a company that will be bankrupt by the following year.
When there are no longer any cheap suppliers left – because after all a
seven-year-old tree retails for only $39.95 – the box store's new supplier will
be...China!

Acer palmatum 'Beni schichihenge'
I discontinued 'Butterfly' because I didn't like the
variegation – it always looked dirty to me. Cute name, but it is also prone to
reversion. A nearby upscale restaurant has two 'Butterfly' planted near the
entrance, and they both have sizable reverted portions that challenge my
appetite. God, who is the landscraper responsible for the upkeep of the
grounds? Anyway, I find Acer palmatums 'Shojo no mai' and 'Beni schichihenge'
to be superior to 'Butterfly', and there's probably another dozen sorta-similar
cultivars that are improvements as well.


Acer pictum 'Usugumo'
Acer mono is an Acer species from northeastern China, Korea
and Japan according to de Beaulieu in An Illustrated Guide to Maples. He
makes absolutely no mention of Acer pictum, that some authorities list the mono species as pictum. In
Vertrees/Gregory Japanese Maples, the preference for the "Painted
Maple" is Acer pictum, and Gregory adds that "the older name of A. pictum has now been accepted as
legitimate by the International Botanical Congress, and so it takes precedence
over A. mono." Yikes, confusing.
The cultivar 'Usugumo' is described in both references with de B. claiming that
propagation is "by grafting on A. platanoides,
while Gregory doesn't mention any rootstock for propagation. However, I
received a plant of 'Usugumo' 25 years ago, and I tried for years to propagate
it into A. platanoides, with absolutely no success. Years ago I purchased
seedlings of Acer truncatum ssp. mono from a company that no longer sells this
species with the curious epithet. Actually, most of the obscure Acer species
that I purchased from them turned out to be invalid. But the good news is that
I saved one of the trees of the ssp. mono and I propagate it by rooted
cuttings. And what do you know, it makes a very compatible rootstock for
'Usugumo'. The bottom line is that botanical maple experts can staunchly make
their claims until the end of time, but all Buchholz wants is to be able to
propagate, grow and sell the very desirable cultivar, 'Usugumo'.
Nothing comes easy with a career in horticulture, and my
failures are numerous. But I am thankful that I am not also saddled with being
a "botanical expert."
![]() |
"No Talon, you are not a botanical expert. You are a simple, humble country boy – my type – which is why I have bestowed many wonderful plants for you." |