Looking for a reputable online Japanese maple seller.

[ceriano]

You might want to get out to Eastwoods maples in Washington, Va. They're having an open house May 13-15. I've never been into the place, but I've learned about them from reputation. LOTS of different maple varieties...it's worth the trip.

Japanese Maples | Home

Eastwoods Nurseries specializes in growing Japanese maples and in personal attention to both plants and people. Your success is our reputation.

japanesemaples.com

Here's their info on Dancing Peacock:

A. j. 'Aconitifolium'
UPRIGHT • 12'-15' • ZONE 5–8 • SUN-PART SHADE
Often called the 'Dancing Peacock', this tree borrows not only the name but also the form and colors of this garish bird. Heavy, feathery lobes arrange themselves into fan-like leaves that fully mock the bird's wide-spread tail. In spring and summer they don a mesmerizing deep green; in fall swirling reds, oranges, golds and purples emerge for an alluring display. It is one of our personal favorites. 2.5-3 gal available @ 85.00 to $110.00. 5 to 10 gal for pick up at the nursery: $110.00 - $295.00

Wow that’s only about 2 hrs from me! Not bad at all. Need to find an excuse to drive up there this weekend

 

[ceriano]

Do you think they’d deliver to Richmond? I’m wondering if I can put in a special order thru one of the local nurseries

 

[ceriano]

BTW, don't know if you're planning to use those as bonsai, but they're not the best for it. Thread leaf and lace leaf maples are kind of iffy as bonsai material in this region, as their thinner leaves burn to a crisp by August. Aureum has rather large leaves and can look a bit odd as smaller bonsai (like under a foot tall).

Just curious, what are the best JPMs for bonsai other than deshojo , arakawa etc?

 

[Lorax7]

Just curious, what are the best JPMs for bonsai other than deshojo , arakawa etc?

Katsura has nice small leaves

 

[amcoffeegirl]

Just curious, what are the best JPMs for bonsai other than deshojo , arakawa etc?

Shishigashira, koto hime are two that I like.
I have both types but no bonsai at the moment.

 

[Ugo]

Just curious, what are the best JPMs for bonsai other than deshojo , arakawa etc?

Hi!

For JPM it really depends.
Sometimes the cultivar are the same, so you should have a tree with the same characteristic over and over but it depends!

By asking the ''best for bonsai'' what does it means for you? which one has the smallest leaves or will be the easiest to maintain in proper conditions where you live?

The more I learn about maples and the more I think about the conditions I can provide for the tree especially during winter, on the final size of the tree I want (Thu the importance of a smaller or bigger basic leaf size) and the color during a given season.
Leaf size is ''adaptable'' yes to a certain point but even among cultivar of Acer Palmatum you can end-up with a slightly different size of leaves ''naturally'' depending on a lot of factor.
As for example @Lorax7 is suggesting Katsura, for me my Katsura is the tree that tend to produce the biggest leaves of all tree in my small pre-bonsai collection. Whatever I do it always have a tendency to produce bigger leaves.

If you order online you will have to be flexible on the leaf size of the tree you will receive if you can choose a tree in particular ask for pictures of everything!
Whatever your choice the thing I try is to always gets cuttings and as much info's on the parent trees, no graft (I made the mistake once..)

There is obvious bonsai appropriate cultivars amongs Acer Palmatum specie but judging in terms of beauty and depending of the season! my favorite one's are (Personal taste):
-Sango-kaku (Always beautiful every seasons, easy to grow)
-Deshojo (Beautiful leaf color in Spring/Summer if you take time to look at it)
-Bloodgood / Emperor (Leaf's are impressive in autumn you can't miss it)
-Katsura (For summer color)


A Bloodgood emperor in term of leaves color. This tree is not my favorite one during summer / the tree is grafted....
I didn't really know what I was doing but the owner was about to throw it in the trash! So I saved it! its color is beautiful and steal the show at the end of Autumn.




If I go by the leaf's size this little guy wins along with my Yuki Hime.
Its not a beautiful tree, color are not exceptional, green in summer yellowish to a flat red in Autumn, A simple Acer Palmatum but that has a unique characteristic it has naturally really small leaves! The biggest are about a quarter to the smallest about 10 cents sized leaves.
I did not prune the tree to attain this leaf size.

 

[Lorax7]

Sometimes the cultivar are the same, so you should have a tree with the same characteristic over and over but it depends!

Cultivars are the same genotype. They're clones. The DNA is the same. If some of the phenotypic expression is a little different from one garden to another, that really comes down to environmental variables like the amount of sun it's getting, watering regimen, water quality, fertilizer regimen, etc.

 

[Lorax7]

The more I learn about maples and the more I think about the conditions I can provide for the tree especially during winter, on the final size of the tree I want (Thu the importance of a smaller or bigger basic leaf size) and the color during a given season.
Leaf size is ''adaptable'' yes to a certain point but even among cultivar of Acer Palmatum you can end-up with a slightly different size of leaves ''naturally'' depending on a lot of factor.
As for example @Lorax7 is suggesting Katsura, for me my Katsura is the tree that tend to produce the biggest leaves of all tree in my small pre-bonsai collection. Whatever I do it always have a tendency to produce bigger leaves.

If your Katsura JM has large leaves, that's either because of environmental factors (heavy fertilizer use, tree placed in a very shaded spot, etc.) or else the nursery mislabeled it and what you have isn't a Katsura.

 

[Ugo]

If your Katsura JM has large leaves, that's either because of environmental factors (heavy fertilizer use, tree placed in a very shaded spot, etc.) or else the nursery mislabeled it and what you have isn't a Katsura.

Hi!

Thanks for your clarification.

You are right, I must admit I exagerate the term "large leaves"..
The largest leaves on the tree are about 2in long.
The whole tree canopy is not like that but mostly the apical region will have the largest leaves.
Maybe is just me...
All my acer are within the same condition but my Katsura is the only one with this tendency.

 

[ceriano]

Buy Japanese Maples For Bonsai Use

Nearly any Japanese maple tree can be trained for bonsai. Because of their slow growth habit and their non-invasive root system, Japanese maples make an ideal plant to turn into a bonsai. When using a Japanese maple for bonsai, certain aspects of the bonsai should be considered. What picture are...

mrmaple.com

What’s your thoughts on these high graf shishigashira?

 

[ceriano]

They have a smaller tsuma Gaki for $180.

 

[ceriano]

Hi!

For JPM it really depends.
Sometimes the cultivar are the same, so you should have a tree with the same characteristic over and over but it depends!

By asking the ''best for bonsai'' what does it means for you? which one has the smallest leaves or will be the easiest to maintain in proper conditions where you live?

The more I learn about maples and the more I think about the conditions I can provide for the tree especially during winter, on the final size of the tree I want (Thu the importance of a smaller or bigger basic leaf size) and the color during a given season.
Leaf size is ''adaptable'' yes to a certain point but even among cultivar of Acer Palmatum you can end-up with a slightly different size of leaves ''naturally'' depending on a lot of factor.
As for example @Lorax7 is suggesting Katsura, for me my Katsura is the tree that tend to produce the biggest leaves of all tree in my small pre-bonsai collection. Whatever I do it always have a tendency to produce bigger leaves.

If you order online you will have to be flexible on the leaf size of the tree you will receive if you can choose a tree in particular ask for pictures of everything!
Whatever your choice the thing I try is to always gets cuttings and as much info's on the parent trees, no graft (I made the mistake once..)

There is obvious bonsai appropriate cultivars amongs Acer Palmatum specie but judging in terms of beauty and depending of the season! my favorite one's are (Personal taste):
-Sango-kaku (Always beautiful every seasons, easy to grow)
-Deshojo (Beautiful leaf color in Spring/Summer if you take time to look at it)
-Bloodgood / Emperor (Leaf's are impressive in autumn you can't miss it)
-Katsura (For summer color)


A Bloodgood emperor in term of leaves color. This tree is not my favorite one during summer / the tree is grafted....
I didn't really know what I was doing but the owner was about to throw it in the trash! So I saved it! its color is beautiful and steal the show at the end of Autumn.
View attachment 428057
View attachment 428058


If I go by the leaf's size this little guy wins along with my Yuki Hime.
Its not a beautiful tree, color are not exceptional, green in summer yellowish to a flat red in Autumn, A simple Acer Palmatum but that has a unique characteristic it has naturally really small leaves! The biggest are about a quarter to the smallest about 10 cents sized leaves.
I did not prune the tree to attain this leaf size.


View attachment 428059
View attachment 428060

I have all except the katsura in my garden. I’m hoping to get some air layers in near future. They are 7-8’ tall but haven’t been in ground very long

 

[rockm]

Just curious, what are the best JPMs for bonsai other than deshojo , arakawa etc?

The best maples for bonsai tend to be small leaved varieties that aren't grafted.

 

[Maiden69]

I've bought from Mr. Maple in the past. All their trees are grafted.....with terrible grafts. Their JM's are only good to get the genetic material above the grafts.

Yes, they just added two none grafted maples recently. A regular JM seedling (momiji) and a few Mikawa Yatsubusa. I ordered cork bark JM from them because it was on sale. Let's say that Brent's 4" maples are almost the same size as the 1 gal I received from MrMaple, but with better ramification.

I'm surprised not to see Brent's site here. No grafts, and mostly cultivars used strictly for bonsai.

Evergreen Gardenworks Catalog: Acer

 

[rockm]

I didn't know Brent had so many different varieties. I really like that he has unnamed, generic "small leafed dwarf" types on sale. That is what I use. I have several forests of JMs of indeterminant origin. That's fine by me. They have small leaves, tight branching and good fall and spring color. I have found that the more specialized the variety doesn't really make great bonsai. Some make crummy bonsai (Bloodgood, etc.). While owning specialized maples is fun, they're not necessary to make good bonsai.

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Cultivars are the same genotype. They're clones. The DNA is the same. If some of the phenotypic expression is a little different from one garden to another, that really comes down to environmental variables like the amount of sun it's getting, watering regimen, water quality, fertilizer regimen, etc.

I agree, although I would add that that which affects phenotypic expression is not limited to environment (see attached; taken from Dirr and Heuser if my memory is accurate).

-Bloodgood / Emperor (Leaf's are impressive in autumn you can't miss it)

Here is my usual rant: Bloodgood (as well as Shojo, Nuresagi, Moonfire, etc.) was selected as a seedling from Atropurpureum. The fact that Atropurpureum is part of the amoenum group (Acer palmatum subs. amoenum) is, for me, very good reason to ignore it completely when it comes to bonsai: Japanese maples in the amoenum group tend to have larger leaves and do not behave or react like the palmatums and dwarves that we tend to use such as Arakawa, Beni Chidori, Deshojo, Kashima, Katsura, Kiyo Hime, Koto Hime, Seigen and Shishigashira. It took me a long time to accept this because some of my favorite cultivars, notably Hogyoku, are in the amoenum group. (To be clear: we are not limited to this list; there are hundreds of cultivars--and non-cultivars--that are potentially appropriate for fine maple bonsai, but Bloodgood is not one of them).

 

[Pitoon]

What’s your thoughts on these high graf shishigashira?

That tree would be good for air layers. I see several seasons worth of material there.

 

[Ugo]

I agree, although I would add that that which affects phenotypic expression is not limited to environment (see attached; taken from Dirr and Heuser if my memory is accurate).



Here is my usual rant: Bloodgood (as well as Shojo, Nuresagi, Moonfire, etc.) was selected as a seedling from Atropurpureum. The fact that Atropurpureum is part of the amoenum group (Acer palmatum subs. amoenum) is, for me, very good reason to ignore it completely when it comes to bonsai: Japanese maples in the amoenum group tend to have larger leaves and do not behave or react like the palmatums and dwarves that we tend to use such as Arakawa, Beni Chidori, Deshojo, Kashima, Katsura, Kiyo Hime, Koto Hime, Seigen and Shishigashira. It took me a long time to accept this because some of my favorite cultivars, notably Hogyoku, are in the amoenum group. (To be clear: we are not limited to this list; there are hundreds of cultivars--and non-cultivars--that are potentially appropriate for fine maple bonsai, but Bloodgood is not one of them).

Yes I totally understand. I don't want to hijack this thread but if the OP and other members can benefit:

I'm actually trying to also accept this fact but with another cultivar...
I was looking at the Acer shirasawanum especially ‘Aureum’, the leaves are superb but it seems to be the same reality as you mentionned above.

I start thinking that the easiest answer for an amateur that want to get an Acer bonsai is to stay in the Palmatum and Dwarf species as you mention one can start with appropriate leaves size for fine bonsai.

Leaves sizes of the others Ex: non Acer palmatum cultivar or Palmatum sub-species are not always considered by bonsai beginners, I learned my lesson and shouldn't have indicated the OP this choice, still the Emperor leaves colors are impressive in Autumn!

Thanks
Ugo

 

[ceriano]

That tree would be good for air layers. I see several seasons worth of material there.

Do you have any first hand experience with shishigashira? how much sun does it take?
I have an empty area in the west side of the house but it's afternoon sun. Not ideal for JPMs but I heard shishi. takes more sun than other varieties.

 

[Pitoon]

Do you have any first hand experience with shishigashira? how much sun does it take?
I have an empty area in the west side of the house but it's afternoon sun. Not ideal for JPMs but I heard shishi. takes more sun than other varieties.

The only JM's that I leave in full sun with no worries are red leaf cultivars. They handle/tolerate full sun better than green leaved ones. All my green leaf cultivars are in filtered sun/shade. Afternoon sun could be too much, but you would have to test to see. You can keep it in the pot and put in that area to see how it responds.