American Red Maple in flower

Just thought I'd post a pic of an American Red Maple that has come into flower. It finally deserves a nice pot.

RANDY,,, That is a very very nice tree !!! how tall is it now and when can you repot it ?? please re post it when it is in it,s new home...take care john

Beautiful image Randy! Tops!
Best,
Todd

Very, very nice Randy !

Thank you for posting. The Acer rubrum in my back yard is also in bloom, but no where near as pretty as yours.

Ed

Nice, that's a sure sign of spring! I think the buds are swelling on the red maples around here.

I'd like to see what this tree looks like in leaf...

beautiful red maple, randy. i can see what i have to look forward to down the road from my twigs

Good job with one of the most difficult American trees for bonsai.

hi jim,

what exactly makes the american red maple so challenging? as i mentioned above, i have quite a few of these trees that range from 1-3 yrs old. what kinds of issues should i be expecting to encounter?

Hi Randy,
What is the soil mix you are using for this particular tree? What is your fertilizing regime like for this tree? I have never seen this many blooms on the wild Red Maple trees here. I am still astonished!
Best,
Todd

To all,

Thanks so much for the kind comments on the tree!!!!


Todd,

I use a soil mix of 50% Mule Mix ( A turface like fired clay product) and 50% ground pine bark nursery mix. At repotting I usually add bone meal, a llittle gypsum (provides calcium) and green sand (a sand high in potassium) to the mix. The tree gets an early spring feeding of dry Blood and Bone meal in equal parts by volume and then a weekly feeding with standard Miracle-gro during the growing season. In the fall as the tree begins to change color and begins defoliating I usually add an additional application of Bone meal to strengthen the roots for the winter months ahead.

Thank you Randy. I appreciate the info.
Todd

Levi wrote:hi jim,

what exactly makes the american red maple so challenging? as i mentioned above, i have quite a few of these trees that range from 1-3 yrs old. what kinds of issues should i be expecting to encounter?

Primarily the virtual impossibility of getting good ramification, but also the very long petioles on the leaves -- sometimes longer than the leaf itself. Both make for a sloppy looking small tree, though they're gorgeous when they are 70 feet tall.

coh wrote:Nice, that's a sure sign of spring! I think the buds are swelling on the red maples around here.

I'd like to see what this tree looks like in leaf...

Chris,

Snapped a pic of the tree in leaf today for you. I have also included a pic of the tree in march after flowering and it was covered in seeds.

ta ta for now,
R

Seeds


In leaf

I don't know what maple this is . The leaves are not like any Acer Rubrum I know. It is a sweet tree though ~!

Looks like a red maple to me. It's coming along Randy.

Thanks Randy, I appreciate the updates! The tree looks good, but I agree that the leaves don't look like what we have as "red maple" around here. Ours aren't nearly as elongated as these (best I can tell from the photo, anyway).

Now here's a puzzlement. I don't know any other native maple with those bright red flowers, but your leaves don't look anything like mine, either. Mine has round, 5 lobed, typical maple leaves. The red maples around here have that shape. My bonsai was collected off Route I95 in northern Mass. Must be a regional difference.
One of the big difficulties with red maple is that the leaves don't reduce well. I just repotted mine, and it hasn't been out in full sun yet, and the leaves are way too big to show. Last year I defoliated it in June, with fairly good results. Next year I will try defoliating it in July, & it may look good for our fall show.
One point in its favor, like other maples, it is easy to thread graft.
Iris

All,

I understand your confusion on the leaf shape! but there is a botanical story to it. This tree was once considered a sub-species of A. rubrum with the "subsp" designation of "drumondii". It is recorded as being native to the Ohio and surrounding areas. Recently, the Botanical community (Missouri Botanical and Kew Gardens) have removed the sub-species designation to almost all or maybe even all of the historical sub-species and put them back under consideration for additional evaluation. This has caused some consternation to old farts like me (and obviously you too based on your comments) which see the differences with ease. In this case the "drumondii" has an elongated leaf, not so obvious lobes, a shorter leaf peitole, A brighter grey undersurface of the leaf, and in this particular tree flowers more than the Original species of Acer rubrum. I have noticed on this tree and some seedlings from it that the young trees have leaves which are more rounded and show a more prominent leaf lobe which seems to deminish as the tree ages and the leaf begins to elongate with maturity of the tree. I have some seedlings of last years seed crop growing now so I can see if the flowering is another consistent feature which can be added to the other distinct features to distinguish this tree from the standard red maple. If it does show that consistency I would make a case to the Botanical community to reinstate it's status as a sub-species pending some DNA evaluation that they may wish to undertake. In any event, it's a nice tree and works quite well for the larger bonsai sizes.

Thanks Randy. With a tree like A. rubrum, with such a huge range, wouldn't y'all expect some variation? Your tree looks perfectly normal to me, what Iris describes would have me scratching my head!

We have a variety down here being grown by a north Florida nursery called 'gold nugget' or something like that. It's a beautiful stocky tree with small foiliage and no long petiole. Yellow fall color too. I'll try to get a picture today. I've never tried it as bonsai material, but it's a real beauty.

What Randy describes is a rather common occurrence nowadays, as taxonomists try to simplify classification using newer techniques. It drives orchid growers crazy. This is why those who grow Korean hornbeam have to learn how to spell turczaninowii. You have a population of a certain species or genus with a distinct horticultural difference, but taxonomists find there is no taxonomic distinction, so the varietal or species name is removed. Another example is Black Hills spruce, which is now just Picea glauca. Sellers, if they wish to inform the public, can keep the varietal name on the labels with quotation marks or the designation syn. If you know your Picea glauca came from Andy Smith, you know it is that Black Hills population.
Iris

Nice tree Randy.

For what it is worth. The Red Maple can, and does hybridize with a number of other maples. Much planted in my area as a street tree is Acer x freemanii, the natural hybrid between sugar maple and red maple. And to confuse matters more, there is the phenomena referred to as gene introgression. This is where a chance natural hybrid crosses back into one of the parental populations, and then its offspring recross back into that same parental population, so that you can have a red maple that is 90% plus red maple, but it still has some genetic material from a natural hybrid way back in its ancestry. It is a very twisty topic to define natural hybrids, versus gene introgression. One blends to the other. I suspect many of the varietal designations for various trees are examples where the plant is a selection from a population with gene introgression from another related species. Tough one to sort out. Given the time and expense of DNA studies, it is not likely to be sorted out anytime soon.

But regardless, a population or an individual cultivar of red maple with short leaf petioles is a tree worth propagating for the bonsai hobby. Nice find Randy.

Leo Schordje wrote:But regardless, a population or an individual cultivar of red maple with short leaf petioles is a tree worth propagating for the bonsai hobby. Nice find Randy.

Leo,

Dispite the taxonomic issues which are all over the map these days for lots of different plants I agree with you that finding unique examples of individual plants with characteristics good for bonsai is something that more people should be on the look out for in wild plant populations. That has been one of the virtues of Japanese bonsai people over the centuries that have found, propagated and distributed them within the bonsai community for use and enjoyment. It is that reason that there are hundreds of varities of Japanese maples, trident maples, black and white pine, etc. etc. etc....... that we now enjoy in our wonderful hobby!! I have come across a few examples in a lifetime and wish I had a couple more lifetimes to continue the hunt!

bonsaisr wrote:What Randy describes is a rather common occurrence nowadays, as taxonomists try to simplify classification using newer techniques. It drives orchid growers crazy. This is why those who grow Korean hornbeam have to learn how to spell turczaninowii. You have a population of a certain species or genus with a distinct horticultural difference, but taxonomists find there is no taxonomic distinction, so the varietal or species name is removed. Another example is Black Hills spruce, which is now just Picea glauca. Sellers, if they wish to inform the public, can keep the varietal name on the labels with quotation marks or the designation syn. If you know your Picea glauca came from Andy Smith, you know it is that Black Hills population.
Iris

Hi Iris,

In your opinion which are the best books to reference for plant identification. Could you also suggest books for tropical plant identification. Thankyou.

Adam

It does not look like what I can Acer rubrum. I can't post a photo right now, but someone might google for a photo (not to post because of copyrights)

I had some good flowers on mine this spring but didn't think of taking a picture. Very nice.