Matt, good work with the camera, you got the real deal with the "TLC" cutleafs.

That's a lot of JMs. I plan on getting some probably dwarf type only as Texas summers tend to be brutal on them so I imagine it'd be a bit easier to grow dwarf types in large containers or in good spots under the shade trees away from afternoon sun. I don't have much of shade to speak of because my house was built in 2005 and my trees aren't that big yet.

You should get Shantung maple 'Fire Dragon' from Metro Maples. what makes it unique is that it produce consistent red fall color. Yellow is the typical fall color. Sometimes you see orange-reddish color but not that red like 'Fire Dragon' You will have to wait till the winter to order one. It's around 4 feet tall for 50 dollars or so. It's worth it. I have some trees and I think they are great. They can be planted in full sun with no problem.

Here is the fall color on mine that is growing in limestone rubbles (high pH). Not sure if it influenced the fall color. I have seen different shades of red on Metro Maples depending on the location and type of the soil but it will always be red.

Summer growth. I thought it was pretty cool.

{{gwi:340438}}

here are some spring pics of one of my shade favorites ap'shigitatsu sawa'

Here is a link that might be useful: maples 2008

alley_cat,

Your photo archive is password protected. We can't see a thing!

When I first saw this tree, I thought it was japanese maple but as I looked at it more, I realized it wasn't JM because of truncated base (hence Acer truncatum). This is called Skinny Dragon. I'm going to plant it where I plan to plant several dwarf JMs between two shantung maples that would provide some shade in several years. They could easily be 20 feet tall in 5 years. That's how fast they grow.

You should also collect dwarf trident maples. They seem very interesting and can tolerate a lot of sun with no problem.

K4-Thanks for the heads up, i made some changes.Maybe next time ill try picaso! Im more of a rake and a shovel guy !!! I always have trouble w/pics.

alley_cat

Dude, that is one awesome tree! I love it!! How much sun is it getting there? How long did it take to get that big? What are some of the other Acers I see around it?

Thanks,

K4

k4 Later in the summer the sun will clip the corner of my house and one small portion of leaves will pay dearly. I saw in pics you have one.Go for as much shade as you can with this one!- other acers in photo, queen in the back,beyond the gutter and left is a slice of a shisigashira,the pie or dome shape is a tama hime,the small pointy leaves that are lower and seem to be reaching over tama hime bottom left are from a sazanami,coming in over the top is butterfly, between the queen and shishigashira is a mikawa yatsubusa,left of rock is small omur yama in a pot with white stones,hard for you to see. AL

Thanks for the hints. You have some beautiful specimens! (drooling with jealousy) How old is that shigitatsu sawa??

K4

Alley Cat,
I just saw your trees finally. Those are very nice. I hope my trees fill out like that. I plan on getting a A.S. Autumn Moon and a A.P. Seiryu soon but I am getting many trees now so I really have to start thinking things through.
Matt

k4, I think my shigitatsu is around seven. Its hard to remember exactly. ----- Matt, You start to have to many when you cant take care of them!

Matt, How do you make those pics post in a scrolling way?

I just use www.photobucket.com

After you upload the photos, it give you a source code that you just copy and paste.