Planting Trees in My Japanese Maple Grove
This season's tree-planting project continues at my Bedford, New York farm with a group of young, healthy Japanese maples.
Every year, I try to add a few interesting and rare trees to my Japanese Maple Grove. I love this area of the farm and my gardeners, outdoor grounds crew and I have been working hard to keep it looking its best - weeding and cleaning the beds, pruning and grooming all the trees, and edging the carriage road. Not long ago, I purchased several more of these remarkable trees to add to my collection. With so many cultivated varieties available, one can find suitable specimens, which will grow beautifully in sun, shade, containers, and even bonsai. These trees provide countless variations in size, leaf shape, and color - I am looking forward to watching them develop in this shady woodland.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Over the last several years, I’ve planted hundreds of Japanese maples in this area not far from my chicken coops. I just love them and always look forward to their gorgeous displays of color, especially in autumn.
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- Japanese maples prefer dappled sun or part shade. I purposely planted them beneath larger trees in this area of the farm. The varying heights of these trees add a nice texture to the grove. Many of these trees came from Summer Hill Nursery in Madison, Connecticut. After they were unloaded, they were brought right to the woodland and placed strategically, filling in any bare spots.
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- Among those we’re planting this year is this ‘Green Cascade’ Japanese maple. Noted for its unique form, award-winning Acer japonicum ‘Green Cascade’ is a small mounded tree of graceful, weeping or pendulous habit.
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- In spring, it shows rich emerald green leaves that are palmate, finely-dissected, and lacy-like deeply cut into at least nine lobes. In the fall, the foliage turns brilliant shades of yellow, orange and crimson.
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- ‘Orangeola Threadleaf’ Japanese maples have weeping red-orange foliage, showing a slightly pinkish hue from a distance.
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- This variety displays deeply-lobed, finely-serrated leaves, giving an artistic lacy effect that contrasts well with green-leafed cultivars.
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- Nearby, is the ‘Green Threadleaf’ maple. I love its unique shape.
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- ‘Green Threadleaf’ maples have smooth, muscly branches and feather-soft green foliage that cascade to the ground.
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- ‘Flavescens’ Japanese maple cascades nicely also. Different from other maples, this variety has spring-to-early-summer cool yellow-green foliage.
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- In fact, the ‘Flavescens’ early-season leaves are quite yellow. As summer progresses, they green-up more but will turn back clear yellow in the fall.
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- Once the trees are positioned, Pete begins planting. Here he is digging one of the holes. A crucial step in growing healthy trees is to plant them at the proper depth. Planting a tree too deep can kill it. Plant it only at its flare – the bulge just above the root system where the roots begin to branch away from the trunk.
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- The tree is removed from the pot and placed into the hole to gauge the necessary depth. A good rule of thumb is to plant it to the same height as it was in the pot.
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- Once the depth of the hole is correct, the hole is amended with fertilizer. We use M-Roots with mycorrhizal fungi, which help transplant survival and increases water and nutrient absorption.
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- After the fertilizer is mixed in, the tree is placed in the hole.
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- And then Pete backfills the root ball.
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- Pete adds a little more fertilizer to the top of the root ball.
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- Pete also adds a little more soil and then skillfully shapes the pit. After putting a new tree into the ground, be sure to keep it slightly moist for the first year as it takes root.
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- Some of the others already planted include ‘Golden Full Moon’ maple – a bushy, medium-sized deciduous shrub or small tree noted for its spectacular foliage.
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- It shows intensely bright yellow leaves in spring. These leaves are rounded, palmate leaves, adorned with seven to nine sharply pointed lobes that gradually turn pale chartreuse as the season progresses.
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- ‘Tamukeyama Threadleaf’ maple is a graceful, mounding, dwarf tree with waxy, deep red bark, and beautiful cascading branches.
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- The foliage is deeply lobed with a beautiful purple-red color throughout the summer. The color turns bright red in the fall. The palmate leaves have seven to 11 incised lobes cut to the base of the leaf.
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- This is ‘Emerald Lace’ Japanese maple – a fast-growing, deciduous small tree with deep emerald green, lacy foliage. Because these young maples need to be protected as they grow, I always place stakes around the perimeter of each tree so that it is visible when the leaves fall off.
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- ‘Emerald Lace’ features finely dissected leaves that emerge bright green in spring with red petioles that remain red throughout the season. Summer color lightens to light green with red highlights. ‘Emerald Lace’ has great fall colors that run yellow to orange and finish up with fiery red.
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- ‘Omurayama’ is a weeping form of Japanese maple. It typically grows in an upright, rounded, cascading form to 10 feet tall over the first 10 years, eventually maturing to 15 feet tall and as wide.
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- ‘Omurayama’ maple has palmate leaves with several lobes that all originate from one point looking like an open hand with outstretched fingers.
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- ‘Ruby Lace’ is a rare variety with very interesting leaves that are red on the top and green underneath holding color through the summer.
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- This grove grows more beautifully every season. Few trees are as stunning as the Japanese maple. With more than a thousand varieties and cultivars including hybrids, the iconic Japanese maple tree is among the most versatile small trees. What is your favorite Japanese maple tree?
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