The Elusive Maple Flower

[parhamr]

My Shishigashira mother plant likes to bloom

 

[Mike Westervelt]

I have 2 that flower every April regardless of pruning always makes me happy to see them.
Hedge Maple ( acer campestre) and Vine Maple (acer circinatum)

 

[Deleted member 21616]

This Arakawa is putting on quite a show!

 

[0soyoung]

I found a surprise on one of my a.p. 'Orange Dream' - first time on one of my 'bonsai'
Now I am pretty well convinced that I've been unwittingly cutting these off when I trim right after leaf drop and/or when buds swell.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

Now I am pretty well convinced that I've been unwittingly cutting these off when I trim right after leaf drop and/or when buds swell.

for what it’s worth, after leaf fall i pruned back very hard a sumi nagashi (and was expecting dieback). I have flowers emerging from back budding on the second pair of leaves that emerge!

 

[Smoke]

for what it’s worth, after leaf fall i pruned back very hard a sumi nagashi (and was expecting dieback). I have flowers emerging from back budding on the second pair of leaves that emerge!

That's interesting.

 

[just.wing.it]

Some I saw on a Trident at the Arb the other day.

 

[0soyoung]

for what it’s worth, after leaf fall i pruned back very hard a sumi nagashi (and was expecting dieback). I have flowers emerging from back budding on the second pair of leaves that emerge!

You mean, the second node back from the (pruned) tip?

That's interesting.

I agree.

I think I'm not so convinced any longer.
I'm so easily swayed.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

You mean, the second node back from the (pruned) tip?

this tree is actually full of flowers too, but they're ugly LOL

this sumi nagashi is stacked up in my kitchen (south window) with a bunch of other big maple trees (and cacti) that were getting in the way in the greenhouse, so day and night it has been at a steady 20C (68F) since the first week of March without exception (and the pot is very closer to my hot water radiator). Maybe that has an effect? it never got the usual warm-cool back-and-forth that happens in the spring. tree never went below 2C (35.5F all winter)

i pruned back almost all of the branches in december. the only branches that i did not prune back have fragile air layers (about 20) suspended on delicate thin branches. lots of flowers after the air layers (on branches I did not prune) but also lots of flowers on pruned branches!

@0soyoung @Smoke you guys are scaring me i hope it's not some kind of survival mechanism!

edit: btw i know this all sounds like rough treatment for a tree. it was a tree i bought for cheap for propagation. i have others of the same cultivar that get better treatment

 

[Smoke]

You sure that not late pre emergent shoots that flowered after pruning?

I mean like shoots that had not yet fully opened up and then you pruned and some of the pre emergent shoots caught up and bloomed?

That sure looks like survival mechanism to me....

A new theory for me to test next year!!!!

 

[Deleted member 21616]

You sure that not late pre emergent shoots that flowered after pruning?

I mean like shoots that had not yet fully opened up and then you pruned and some of the pre emergent shoots caught up and bloomed?

totally possible, maybe especially so since the buds started to swell and open in late february and i had to put it into the sun first week if march! I thought it was breaking dormancy very very early, but maybe it never went 100% dormant? (all of my other trees were swelling and opening at the end of march)

i wouldn’t know how to verify at this point, but i like that idea

 

[AlainK]

Depending on the psecies, or cultivar, there can be two to three weeks between those that are early (Little Princess, Katsura, Orange Dream among others) and those that leaf out late (in my garden, Osakazuki, Sango Kaku, Acer monspessulanum, etc).

Here are some flowers showing on 'Phoenix', that is just going out of dormancy whereas 'Orange Dream' has been in full leaves for over two weeks :



And here's one that I've never seen in garden centres or even at plant fairs, it was labelled "Acer sinensis", but it is not a registered name and "Acer sinense" has leaves that look different. And since the plant fair wasn't open to the public yet, I suppose that the owner was looking around and chatting with colleagues, like me : our club displays about 20-25 bonsai there each year.

Anyway, on this one, the flowers are very visible, much more than on most species I know :

 

[AlainK]

Actually, it must be Acer campbellii ssp. sinense : I've got a couple of 2-3 years seedlings, they haven't flowred yet but the leaves look exactly the same, same shape, same colours.

Well, I suppose it takes less time, and less space to write "Acer sinensis" on a tag than "Acer campbellii var. sinense"

 

[Deleted member 21616]

@0soyoung @Smoke

I am now starting to think that this isn't so weird

my katsura did the same, in 2 places. In the photo, top right and bottom left. This is essentially "back budding".

tree was kept at 2C (35.5F) from december to march, more or less. These 2 branches had grown very long during the previous summer and i cut them in december right at the start of dormancy (to fit comfortably in my over-wintering space).

I was expecting die-back if anything, instead I got flowers!

 

[Smoke]

Fascinating ( with one eyebrow up like Spock)

 

[Mellow Mullet]

These, on my arakawa, are on the first node closest to the main branch. I pruned about eight inches off of the shoot at the beginning of winter. If you look right above the "leaf-like" thingy on the bottom cluster, you can barely see the pruning stub.

 

[Deleted member 21616]

@Mellow Mullet thank you! very reassuring to know i’m not alone in the world ?

 

[Mellow Mullet]

@Mellow Mullet thank you! very reassuring to know i’m not alone in the world ?

It does it almost every year from a dozen or so locations like that and also at the end of every branch that I don't take off.

John

 

[Nybonsai12]

On a Kiyohime

 

[LanceMac10]