Sugar Maple

grouper52

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Thought I'd start a progression thread on this guy. I think he may be posted somewhere in my gallery last year when the leaves were a briliant spring yellow.

Got him at an auction two years ago. Bidding was low since these are reputed to be difficult bonsai, and this one was very non-traditional - but both those factors appealed to me. The pot alone seemed worth the price! :)

Story that came with it was that this was a Vermont tree found along a roadside where it had been butchered each year by the county maintenance. Rescued while the owner was on vacation, it was brought to the Seattle area, where it was cared for for 15 years.

Yesterday I repotted it , repositioning it somewhat in the pot, and did some wrap and guy wire work to reposition the branches a bit. It now looks a bit like that old "Keep on Truckin'" cartoon guy from the Sixties. :eek: Oh well.

The fall colors were unimpressive last year, but if the spring colors turn out as nice as they were last year I may post again then.
 

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the3rdon

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Cool tree.. I want to do a native maple really bad.. Good luck with the Sugar..

~Don
 
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i like this tree a ton. how tall is it?

i'm growing a sugar maple that i collected a couple years ago from a steep cliff. of all my natives, it appears to be the weakest as far a growth and the leaves are too large usually but i still love looking at it.
 

grouper52

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Thanks, guys.

Catfish, the tree stands 20" from the soil. The large leaves are, of course, a problem from a traditional standpoint, but I think if they are not too numerous it will still look pleasing from an abstract standpoint - it just won't look very convincing as an accurate representation of a tree in nature, but then this tree isn't gonna ever look like a real sugar maple anyway. :)

I posted, below, the picture from May of last year - the leaves are not too numerous there, and I think it looks pretty nice as an abstract form.

BTW, I lived in Cinncinati for a year around 1995. The house had a bunch of sugar maples in a ravine out back, and they were stunningly gorgeous. You should be able to find some good starter material there!

G52
 

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the3rdon

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Beautiful color.. I live in Wheeling, WV, so sugar maples are everywhere.. I have never collected, but I am doing a lot of research so that next year I can do it successfully with a couple native trees.. I have 2 awesome junipers that will make awesome bonsai.. Very old and well developed.. Just have to get permission.. :D

~Don
 

Bonsai Nut

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Sugar maple is my favorite native tree. You can't begin to describe how amazing they look in the Fall...

Unfortunately, they are cold-hardy, and need a hard winter. I wish I could keep them in Southern California. It is the only tree species I would consider paying to over-winter in a mountain greenhouse.
 

Attila Soos

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Those leaves are stunningly beautiful.
You are right Grouper, this bonsai makes a good literati, the abstract form. It only needs to express a certain feeling, and not bother with the natural representation of a real sugar maple. It is always fun to work on miniaturizing the existing features - leaves, internodes -, but it is not a major concern.
 

grouper52

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I've heard that the leaves won't reduce, or won't do it very much, on this species, and since they are not just out-of-control huge like our local Big Leaf maples are, I think I may just trim off a few to thin things out rather than trying to get them to reduce with mucho ramification.

BNut - maybe someone up in the Sierras could keep them each winter. You could combine the trips with fall and spring collecting adventures! :)
 
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Thanks, guys.

Catfish, the tree stands 20" from the soil. The large leaves are, of course, a problem from a traditional standpoint, but I think if they are not too numerous it will still look pleasing from an abstract standpoint - it just won't look very convincing as an accurate representation of a tree in nature, but then this tree isn't gonna ever look like a real sugar maple anyway. :)

I posted, below, the picture from May of last year - the leaves are not too numerous there, and I think it looks pretty nice as an abstract form.

BTW, I lived in Cinncinati for a year around 1995. The house had a bunch of sugar maples in a ravine out back, and they were stunningly gorgeous. You should be able to find some good starter material there!

G52

its abstract form is awesome. i love abstract! there is so much "abstract" already going on in bonsai it makes me wonder why more people don't push the envelope.

yeah this area has a lot of sugar maples. i actually did find a neat one recently and i just might go back and dig it up..
 
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