5yr Native Tree Challenge - Rivka's Acer circinatum (Vine Maple)

Rivka

Shohin
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Started this a while back, but finally getting around to starting its thread.
When this contest started up, I had a sad neglected vine maple languishing in a huge tub off to the side at my house, it had been given to me with a few others from a gal who has a large old tree in her yard and always potted up its volunteer seedlings to hand out. I have had it for about 5 years and forgot, scorched, and knocked it over a ridiculous number of times. Yet, despite regularly loosing all its leaves at inopportune times and just generally hating me, it has decided to live, so in turn I decided to torture it a bit more...

So here is my entry, a Acer circinatum aka Vine Maple. They are common sights around the Pacific NorthWest of the USA, loving the shade below the towering Douglas Fir forests. They tend to be multi-trunked and sprawling, though I believe that I may make this one look more like its actual parent which had been coaxed into a specimen tree and had a broad dome shape and sat upon a grassy knoll.

Before: (Nov '20 its tucked in the grey tub, the only shot i have before i pulled it to work on)
a sad start.jpeg
First Chop: March 2, 2021 (i was still debating using it as a larger scale or even landscape tree at this point)
First bad chop, first bad tray.jpeg
Second Chop: March 11, 2021
and it finally got into a proper Anderson deep flat.
second chop.jpegfunky cool nebari.jpegfinally getting a real flat to live in.jpegand the spring comes.jpegand with such good budding.jpeg
3rd Chop: April 30, 2021 and finally trimmed some of its more errant exposed roots a few weeks later.
it had been dumped out of its pot a few times in the years i have had it, subiquently being plopped back in higher and higher, so many of the top roots have been exposed for years and hardened off. I'm keeping a fast draining dome of media in the raised cone of roots, more for looks than anything, the active roots are farther down. I think im going to shift over to a "mossy knoll" tucked in there next time i repot. I'm growing a few flats of various grass like moss for things like this.
i decide on a 3rd chop.jpegso happy.jpeg
 
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HorseloverFat

Squarepants with Conkers
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Started this a while back, but finally getting around to starting its thread.
When this contest started up, I had a sad neglected vine maple languishing in a huge tub off to the side at my house, it had been given to me with a few others from a gal who has a large old tree in her yard and always potted up its volunteer seedlings to hand out. I have had it for about 5 years and forgot, scorched, and knocked it over a ridiculous number of times. Yet, despite regularly loosing all its leaves at inopportune times and just generally hating me, it has decided to live, so in turn I decided to torture it a bit more...

So here is my entry, a Acer circinatum aka Vine Maple. They are common sights around the Pacific NorthWest of the USA, loving the shade below the towering Douglas Fir forests. They tend to be multi-trunked and sprawling, though I believe that I may make this one look more like its actual parent which had been coaxed into a specimen tree and had a broad dome shape and sat upon a grassy knoll.

Before: (Nov '20 its tucked in the grey tub, the only shot i have before i pulled it to work on)
View attachment 383253
First Chop: March 2, 2021 (i was still debating using it as a larger scale or even landscape tree at this point)
View attachment 383254
Second Chop: March 11, 2021
and it finally got into a proper Anderson deep flat.
View attachment 383255View attachment 383256View attachment 383257View attachment 383258View attachment 383259
3rd Chop: April 30, 2021 and finally trimmed some of its more errant exposed roots a few weeks later.
it had been dumped out of its pot a few times in the years i have had it, subiquently being plopped back in higher and higher, so many of the top roots have been exposed for years and hardened off. I'm keeping a fast draining dome of media in the raised cone of roots, more for looks than anything, the active roots are farther down. I think im going to shift over to a "mossy knoll" tucked in there next time i repot. I'm growing a few flats of various grass like moss for things like this.
View attachment 383260View attachment 383261
Thick and funky!!!

I love it!!

🤓
 

LittleDingus

Omono
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I didn't care for the exposed roots on this one :( Personally, I like it much better with the roots snaking down the mound :D Plug some moss in there and I'm really liking this tree!!
 

Rivka

Shohin
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I didn't care for the exposed roots on this one :( Personally, I like it much better with the roots snaking down the mound :D Plug some moss in there and I'm really liking this tree!!
yeah when they were out in the air it looked like it wanted to be a mangrove but sucked at it, Piling some media up under the airspace improved this visual tremendously, as did finally flush cutting off some of the other errant roots. I was a lot braver doing that once I had two full flushes of leaves. Having a tight smooth rolling hill of moss and just seeing the main spray of roots is going to be wonderful
 

LittleDingus

Omono
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yeah when they were out in the air it looks like it wanted to be a mangrove but sucked at it, Piling some pumice up under the airspace improved this tremendously, as did finally flash cutting off some of the other and errand roots. I was a lot braver doing that once I had two full flushes of leaves. having a tight smooth rolling hill of moss and just seeing the main spray of roots is going to be wonderful

It's herasy...so don't listen to me ;) But I see some creeping thyme...maybe a variety with yellow flowers to look like a field of daisies...growing around the base of the hill. It would need to be one of the tighter growing species though to keep the flowers low. That might push towards a little deeper pot to help with competition for resources.

I have a young vine maple. I'll have to keep track of this thread so I can steal what you do after a couple of years when it grows up ;) I guess the type of maple doesn't matter much. At this scale, you won't see much of the young red branches anyway :(
 

LittleDingus

Omono
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oh you want some juicy heresy, look up "Mini Oakleaf Creeping Fig", which is neither oak or fig, but instead looks like microscopic english ivy!! You can flip out the bonsai folks and the invasive species folks all in one tiny pot!!

View attachment 383275
Not meaning to derail your thread...but do you have a wider shot of that little hut? How modest/ambitious is the landscape?

In all honesty, I'm much more interested in growing things than specifically "bonsai"...it's just that some of the things I want to grow would otherwise be unacceptably large ;)
 

Rivka

Shohin
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So This tree had the standard 7 lobed leaf untill the last trim and defoliation and now has 5 lobes and even 3 in some places? Huh? It is not grafted, it has been grown from seed. Is this some stress or juvenile leaf thing?
 
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