trident maple over rock?.....

[johnbaz]

hello all

here i have a tree over rock that i bought as a trident maple but i'm fairly sure that it's actually acer ginnala (amur maple), i was told by an old hand at bonsai that the two were often confused and that even bonsai dealers often got them mixed up ...

it's a shohin sized tree (about 8" including the pot) in a very plain round terra cotta pot (that i appear to have missed due to my pathetic camera skills

in the nude....

and fully clothed ...sorry, i can't make up my mind on a front....

here is the same tree with two siblings , unfortunately, the centre one didn't make it through winter

i bought them at the bonsai expo (traders sort of 'get together') here in sheffield, england in 2006..


rgds, john

 

[Rick Moquin]

If I am not mistaken, I also believe they are indeed Acer Ginnala. Having said that, regardless of cultivar it is a nice tree with a promising future.

Photo 1 = trident
Photo 2 = amur
Photo 3 = amur

 

[grog]

Was it the cold that did the center one in? That would make a person wonder if it was something other than an Amur as they are extremely cold hardy. Maybe England gets quite a bit chillier than I thought

 

[Chris Johnston]

Well there is a great deal of variance in trident leaves, and I believe they cross with amurs quite readily. This one could be a hybrid that did not inherit the cold hardiness of the amurs.

 

[johnbaz]

Was it the cold that did the center one in? That would make a person wonder if it was something other than an Amur as they are extremely cold hardy. Maybe England gets quite a bit chillier than I thought

Hi grog

it wasn't the cold that scuppered it, i repotted it in spring and it really struggled for life thereafter, i put it in a slightly larger pot (it probably didn't know what to do with all the extra space )
the smallest one on the left is about as thick as a pencil, both the outer ones are currently bursting into leaf (i love spring when the new growth is appearing, allbeit, early this year )

rgds, john
ps, it's been dropping to about -5/6 degrees celcius all week