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  • From: "Marge Talt" <mtalt@hort.net>
  • To: "gardenwriters-on-gardening" <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [gwl-g] Cutleaf maple shape
  • Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 02:25:59 -0400

Rich, there are many forms of cutleaf Japanese maples. Some are
upright, some are weeping, some are dwarf; some get full and some are
more open in habit. While you can prune them, you really shouldn't
need to except for removal of dead wood. You just need to do some
research on cultivars that appeal to you to find out what their
ultimate form will be - within the limitations of their genes, they
will reach that form gracefully:-) It is, in my experience,
difficult to know just from looking at a very young plant. I have
one that I got as a single stem stick about 10" long nearly 20 years
ago. It is now a mushroom shape about 3.5 feet tall and 8' in
diameter and the only pruning it has had is removal of dead
wood....but there are several web sites devoted to Japanese maples
and the best will tell you what the form will be and have some photos
so you can see. A few hours of Googling will do the trick.

OTOH, if you want some particular artistic shape in a certain
direction, you'll probably have to train the tree - you can wire and
weigh branches if you really want some special pre-conceived
effect...easier if the tree starts out in the direction you want it
to go.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Shadyside Garden Designs

---------
From: Rich Pomerantz <rich@richpomerantz.com>
I want to plant a cutleaf Japanese maple in my garden & after looking
a few over at my favorite nursery I am wondering how these babies
take their shape? The ones I've admired in gardens frequently have a
certain artistic shape to them, as if they were somehow trained or
cut so their drooping growth would be emphasized in a certain
direction. Is this something that takes years, is it best so start
with a very young plant, or if I see one whose shape I like, that's
the one I should go with...?





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