North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[loneroc <loneroc1@gmail.com>]

Hi Jim,

"Japanese maple" generally refers to two species Acer palmatum and Acer 
japonicum.       There are no commercial cultivars of either that are fully 
hardy in climates colder than zone 5.  Betty Addison of the former Rice Creek 
Gardens in the Twin Cities, Minnesota (zone 4a) and Ed Hasselkus, retired 
curator of the University of Wisconsin Arboretum in Madison (zone 4b-5a) both 
found that some seedlings of Acer japonicum atropurpureum could sometimes 
survive in very sheltered locations but had regular winter damage.  Ed also 
told me that the clone Emperor II (I forget which of the two species it is) 
had also survived for a number of years for him although I couldn't find it 
when I looked this spring.  If you really have a zone 3 hardy clone of either 
species it's an important find and you should make an effort to get material 
to an Acer specialist nursery.

In my zone 3 garden I grow a similar related species from Korea, Acer 
pseudosieboldianum, a lovely addition to my garden.  You might also want to 
key out that species to determine exactly which one you have.  Acer 
pseudosieboldianunum has few or no cultivars although I have a dwarf seedling 
that I'm watching closely.  I won't be tapping it any time soon obviously.

If you post pictures that show as many details as you can I can pass them 
along to Dr.Hasselkus--I'm sure he'd be very excited to see your find.

Steve Herje, Lone Rock, WI USA.  USDA zone 3b (but with good summer heat)

Sent from my U.S. Cellular® Android phone

Jim Fruth <jimfruth@charter.net> wrote:

>    I know where there is one with a 6" diameter bole (at 3') so it had to 
>have withstood alot of cold weather.
>
>Jim Fruth
>Brambleberry Fruit Farm
>4002 Davis Street
>Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
>
>__________________
>nafex mailing list 
>nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
>aubscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info:
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex
>message archives
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex 
>Google message archive search:
>site: lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/nafex [searchstring] 
>nafex list mirror sites:
>http://nafexlist.blogspot.com/
>http://groups.google.com/group/nafexlist
>https://sites.google.com/site/nafexmailinglist
>Avant Geared  http://www.avantgeared.com