So... you gonna post some pics? If they are leafed out of course..

How many do you currently have?

John

Hey Gardengal, Load us up with some photos after they flush out this spring. Ill do some as well. My brother has been growing a baldsmith for a while now that has stunning fall color. Ill get him to post some photos as well. We removed a 6' shigatatsu-sawa that i had grown from a small graft for years from my place to his.Now he is growing both, 'AKA Shigatatsu- Sawa'...the red one...and 'Shigatatsu-sawa' the yellow.

No leaves yet....everybody still dormant. I'll try to get some photos, but not great with remembering camera. And then uploading to work computer.

I only have about 15 now, all currently growing in containers. Before I moved, I had a lot more but obviously left all the inground ones in place and gave away a bunch in containers that were too large to move easily. One was a pretty uncommon selection that is very hard to find in cultivation and I am kicking myself now for giving it away.

I also snagged a small 'Pacific Fire' vine maple today after discussions about this tree on another thread convinced me into to getting one. This will take the place of my drop-dead gorgeous coral bark maple in my old garden that was the talk of the neighborhood.

How did your Pacific Fire fair the last couple of years, GG? Did you plant it in ground or place it in a container? I am especially interested to hear how the leaves handled summer weather if you don't mind to indulge my curiosity =)

My Pacific Fire is great, thanks for asking ;-) Other examples of this cultivar locally have seemed to experience Pseudomonas, much like the red barked Sango Kaku does, but mine has not had any issues (knock on wood!). It is in a container, as are all my other maples as no real ground available for planting and will need to be repotted this season. I plan on doing that with several of my maples soon.

The leaves didn't seem to have any negative impact from the summer weather but then it's important to remember my summers tend to be quite cool, if dry.

Thanks for the heads up! I saw one in full shade from a shade cloth (so, bright shade) that had burned pretty bad at a nursery last fall. I returned to the nursery in early winter a couple of times to pick up a couple of trees and that Pacific Fire bark was outrageously bright! A head turner if I ever saw one! I have a Sango Kaku that has very pretty bark but honestly it is not in the same stratosphere as the Pacific Fire. I am considering a northern exposure off the patio for one but I will probably put it in the ground if it ever happens. Hate to hear about the pseudomonas susceptibility but not everything can be perfect, right?

Ed: Good luck with yours! Hopefully being potted with good media will reduce the likelihood of a pseudomonas infection

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 17:36