Amur Maple #1

[Jorow99]

I purchased this tree in 2018 from a guy in Michigan, where it was collected. I was really attracted to the deadwood and the general style of the tree. There are some flaws in the upper trunk and the branching but I am in the process growing some things out for thicker branches and to increase thickening to help the bad taper transition toward the top. Overall though, this is my favorite tree.

October 3, 2018. right after I purchased it.

October 20, 2019. Stunning fall color.

December 8th, 2018: Cleaned out some of the punky deadwood and carved it a little bit to add more detail. I also added some wood hardener to areas lower on the tree that look pretty aged already. I left the raw, smooth, boring wood to decay for a while while I think of what I want to do with it.

March 23, 2019: I repotted it because it was in field soil mostly. The tree had a little more ramification but the rabbits got to it right at the end of winter. It back budded really well though

And a couple shots from today.


This tree needs thicker, lower branching so the lowest ones I let grow freely. At the same time the growth at the top was kept in check. My first two thread grafts didn't take, I think summertime is not the ideal time to do that. I will try again in spring while its growing.

 

[Jorow99]

This maple is just starting to leaf out, and we got an inch of snow yesterday, but this tree and a few others are in a cold frame. The cold frame was able to protect my trees from the rabbits this year, but I had a very preventable mishap with my cold frame on a windy day and it damaged this tree and one of my JBP. It will recover but it's frustrating to have this tree set back two years in a row. The two lowest branches are being allowed to grow freely to thicken while the upper portion is being ramified. I'm still not sure what the final design should look like for this tree but I see a graft in it's future to create another low branch.