REPOST: japanese maple progression, 7yrs

I have been reorganizing photobucket albums, which has resulted in images from my previous post being dropped. Apologies. Hopefully these images make the progression more meaningful.

Below is a japanese maple progression over 7 yrs. Now with a 3" trunk, 6" root spread, 20" tall, 16" pot. This is my first maple, sangu kaku. I began with garden nursery stock purchase 15 yrs ago, which I was surprised to find had decent roots and no graft. It was too tall (for trunk width), but too pretty to chop, so I read some books and decided to air layer the top, and made this pairing. It has begun a pleasant journey for me with maples. In 2008 I read some more about root base spreading from Peter Adams, and chose to work on roots with a shallower pot, which are coming along nicely. Spring and autumn are my favorite times of the year for this tree, spring allows one to see new leaves against pink bark on small branches, and autumn color is light pink turning to bright yellow. I may soon need a larger pot.

Any thoughts, recommendation and ideas appreciated.

Summer 2004:


Summer 2006:


Early Spring 2008:


Spring 2008:


Summer 2008:


Autumn 2008:


Summer 2011:

You have been really spoiling us lately with these progression series. Keep it up.

Very nice progression. I also air layered a Sango kaku maple several years ago and have two trees now as a result. Is the smaller trunk shown here the result of the air layering process which you added as a second trunk?

John Quinn wrote:Is the smaller trunk shown here the result of the air layering process which you added as a second trunk?

Yes John, smaller trunk came from the larger trunk, they have been together for 10+ years now. As easily as japanese maples layer, I am thinking more about layering extra height off other maples which are less well developed, rather than trunk chopping. You get more, they just look funny in the process!

JOSH..Your maple is very nice,,,good progression..only thing i would do is move some moss around so you can see your soil..i think your mix looks good only me though,,you have a good tree..take care john