"Gardendori" field maple

Bonjour,

I seldom mow the lawn, my garden is a mess, and that's why I can collect seedlings brought by the wind or the birds.

There xas this Acer campestre growing at the bottom of the stairs, in mainly rocks. It was interesting because I've got a big one (and cuttings or root-layerings) whose leaves are unusual, but this one was typical of the specimens you can find in a warm, dry environment, with "winged" shoots:



I let it grow for a couple of years, then decided to remove it. But the soil was maily rocks and two big roots were going downward. I thought it was a goner, but it had to be removed anyway, so I put it in a plastic pot without bothering about the soil (mainly earth from my garden, very calcareous).

As expected, it didn't survive...



It didn't, did it?...

YES, it did!

The beginning of the summer was very wet and rather cool, but then, it became exceptionally hot and dry. And in mid-July, that's when new leaves appeared:



The new shoots didn't develop much: slugs and snails would eat them at night, almost leaving nothing, until I put some mint leaves on the soil (slimey things hate mint - a free good trick ).

And on november 27th, this is how it looked like:



As if its internal clock had been retarded, it kept its green leaves until a few days ago, but now, with temperatures at night below zero several days in a row, it has at least gone dormant:



I think it will survive. I'm not sure that the roots are "suitable" for a bonsai, but I'll be happy if it survives.

If it does, I can put it back in the garden, or layer it to form a good "nebari", learn about how to make big cuts heal, or if doesn't I ùmight even go the whole hog and carve, carve, carve, southern England style...  

PS:

When I mentioned "a big one (and cuttings or root-layerings) whose leaves are unusual", I was thinking of these ones, whose leaves are more rounded than the common field maples I can see here. It might be a hybrid, or just a variation, I haven't found the answer yet...

Root cuttings (2014):



Mother-tree (Oct. 2015):



New trees that grew up from the roots left after the mother-plant was put in a grow-box:

I have several Field Maples and they tend to be tough as old boots so I'm not surprised that your "gardendori" survived.

Shame the top died but it didn't appear to have much taper anyway so perhaps mother nature was just saving you the bother of trunk chopping it later?

Either way I'm sure you will be able to do something creative with the stump in time.

Regarding the leaves I've also found considerable variety in shape and size between different plants. Some are quite pointy and typically "maple like" others much rounder and I have one which consistently produces very small leaves (although this isn't yet a bonsai).

Your other one (in the blue pot) is looking rather splendid as well, great autumn colour!

By the way, do you rub the "cork wings" off the branches when you wire them or just wire over it? I've taken to rubbing it off myself and it doesn't appear to do any harm but I'm never quite sure whether it's the right thing to so. Still, like I say doesn't appear to do any harm but would be interested to know how other people cope with.

Cheers

Richard

Sounds like I need to do some collecting in your garden

Nice weeding you have done there!