BethF
Mame
This is one of three maples I got as a seedling ten to twelve years ago. It was growing in a friend's yard that was planted with many cultivars of Japanese maples. Miraculously these saplings stayed alive over their first winter. It turned out that their leaves are small; their internodes are short; and they have a beautiful, red fall color. So they were potted up at regular intervals over the years. In 2011, all of the trees were placed in growing flats.
Here is the tree in 2012:
Here it is last April after repotting and a trunk chop:
The tree grew vigorously this spring and early summer. A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a chop low on the trunk in hopes of establishing the remainder of a trunk useable for bonsai. The cut was made an inch above an upward growing branch that is in a good position to become the final trunk. The pictures below show the tree today. The first picture is from the intended front of the tree. The second and third are a long shot and a close up of rampant growth on the opposite side of the trunk. This growth is just below a node that developed when I cut off an unruly, coarse branch in 2011 or 2012. I guess we'll see which, if either, side becomes the ultimate front of the tree.
Here is the tree in 2012:
Here it is last April after repotting and a trunk chop:
The tree grew vigorously this spring and early summer. A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a chop low on the trunk in hopes of establishing the remainder of a trunk useable for bonsai. The cut was made an inch above an upward growing branch that is in a good position to become the final trunk. The pictures below show the tree today. The first picture is from the intended front of the tree. The second and third are a long shot and a close up of rampant growth on the opposite side of the trunk. This growth is just below a node that developed when I cut off an unruly, coarse branch in 2011 or 2012. I guess we'll see which, if either, side becomes the ultimate front of the tree.
