Buchholz Plant Introductions (Part 6)

 

Japanese maple seedlings from named cultivars

A number of Japanese maple seedlings were germinated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and often it was Acer palmatum 'Amber Ghost' that served as the mother tree. The pollen fathers were never specifically known, and they could have come from hundreds of willing cultivars. I teased with a few photos at the end of Buchholz Plant Introductions (Part 4), about 'Amber Ghost's' progeny, about how amazingly varied they can be, more so than the offspring of any of the others in the “Ghost Series.”

Acer palmatum 'Sweet Lorraine'

Acer palmatum 'Sweet Lorraine'

I wrote in a past blog that I didn't know the parent of Acer palmatum 'Sweet Lorraine', but when we potted up the original seedling we discovered the name Acer palmatum 'Seedling from Amber Ghost' (1999) on a plastic stick label that had slipped out of view, down into the side of the pot. These days we identify the germinants as 'EX Amber Ghost', and we use a different label color and pray that the crew understands that while they all look different, the commonality is that all are not 'Amber Ghost', just like human brothers and sisters are not the same people as Mum herself.

Acer palmatum 'Sweet Lorraine'

Acer palmatum 'Sweet Lorraine'

Acer palmatum 'Sweet Lorraine' is a delicate laceleaf with finely dissected foliage. New growth is pinkish-red, then later (by mid-June) it evolves to light green. There are other somewhat similar non-Buchholz cultivars such as 'Baldsmith' and 'Van den Akker' – both terrible names – but 'Sweet Lorraine' is more dwarf, at least in our growing conditions. The original was sold a few years ago in a 20 gal pot, where it grew in the greenhouse to 3' tall by 4' wide in 15 years. It was no longer producing quality scions, heck not even mediocre scions, so I cashed it out in favor of younger grafts on vigorous green rootstocks. Do I ever regret parting with the original of a Buchholz introduction? Yes, always; but the employees want higher salaries, not fond memories.

Nat King Cole

'Sweet Lorraine': what a name. For some reason it came to me from the name of a popular song by Cliff Burnwell (music) and Mitchell Parish (lyrics) that was published in 1928. Do yourself a favor and google Nat King Cole/Sweet Lorraine for a beautiful rendition, or, for you rockers out there, try Country Joe's cover. Oh Baby – Sweet Lorraine!

I've just found joy
I'm as happy as a baby boy
With another brand new choo-choo toy
When I met my sweet Lorraine, Lorraine, Lorraine

She's got a pair of eyes
That are brighter than the summer sky
When you see them, you'll realize
Why I love my sweet Lorraine

Now when it's rainin', I don't miss the sun
Because it's in my baby's smile
And to think that I'm the lucky one
That will lead her down the aisle

Each night I pray
That no one will steal her heart away
I can't wait until that lucky day
When I marry sweet Lorraine

Now when it's rainin', I don't miss the sun
Because it's in my baby's smile
And to think that I'm the lucky one
That will lead her down the aisle

Each night I pray
That no one will steal her heart away
I can't wait until that lucky day
When I marry sweet Lorraine

Acer palmatum 'Blonde Beauty'

Acer palmatum 'Blonde Beauty

Acer palmatum 'Blonde Beauty'

Acer palmatum 'Blonde Beauty' was discovered and developed about the same time as 'Sweet Lorraine'. It was one of about 200 “interesting” seedlings planted at Flora Farm so I could determine how they would fare out in full sun in the “real world.” Before I sold Flora Farm we dug what was to become 'Blonde Beauty', and the original was sold but I don't remember where it went. Since we had it in production, and because typically the original produces inferior propagation wood compared to subsequent younger plants, I went capitalist and sold it out. I miss the tree of course, but at least I have a photo of her; and note: I refer to “her” even though she is monoecious, with male and female parts on the same tree. How modern of...it then. 'Beauty's' prominent veins are striking on the pale-cream leaves, and it's fun to watch them change throughout the seasons. I would describe 'Blonde Beauty' as half-way between A.p. 'Sister Ghost' and the 'Amber Ghost' mother, while in autumn the foliage ranges from orange to deep (almost purple) red.

Acer palmatum 'Shu shidare'

Acer palmatum 'Shu shidare'

The original Acer palmatum 'Shu shidare' is growing next to my house at Flora Farm and it stands about 4' tall by 8' wide at about 23 years of age. It's another example of the considerable variation that one encounters with 'Amber Ghost's' offspring, and wouldn't it be amazing if a seedling from 'Shu shidare' resulted in a look-alike to its mother? I've never tried it because generally laceleaf seedlings turn out to be uninteresting palmatum uprights, or at worst viney laceleafs with muted greenish coloration, and the grower wastes his time producing plants with no commercial appeal. Or at least that has been my experience.

Acer palmatum 'Shu shidare'

One spring when the original A.p. 'Shu shidare' was about ten years old I asked my wife what she thought about it. She liked it a lot, with its bright orange margins edging fresh green dissected leaves, and when she asked for the cultivar name I replied that it didn't have one. Immediately she knew what I was up to, that I was looking for her to suggest a name. Haruko groaned at the assignment, preferring to keep distant from the plant name game. I said that I wasn't asking her to provide a name – untrue – but rather I just wondered what the Japanese name would be that described the tree. Her answer was shu shidare, or “orange weeping.” “Thank you dear, you just coined its name,” and at the time Haruko was not aware that the greenish-orange laceleaf also turns to brilliant orange-red in autumn. So, perfect name.

Acer palmatum 'Festival'

Acer palmatum 'Festival'

Wildly vigorous is Acer palmatum 'Festival', maybe even moreso than its 'Amber Ghost' parent, and it was a 2012 introduction from seed germinated about 2002. I watched it for a few years, housed in GH25 with hundreds of other seedlings from named cultivars, and I personally kept it pruned because it was too big for its pot and always dried out before the others. There was nothing to distinguish it in spring and summer – just another green palmatum with leaves larger than the others – but in autumn it was the greenhouse show off, and it was quite brash with its coloration. The name 'Festival' seemed appropriate, coming from Latin festivus and (plural) festa for “feast” because it displays a party-time vibe, a feast for the eyes.

Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring'

Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring'

About ten years ago I wrote for a (“new”) maple presentation: “Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring' is one of my favorite new selections, but it remains to be seen how it will do in production. It was the impressive choice, along with Acer palmatum 'Celebration', of Guy Maillot of France (a European maple expert) as the two best of the recent Buchholz discoveries. It has not yet been propagated or introduced, but when it is, Guy will be the first to receive it.”

Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring'

As one of hundreds trialed in the fields at Flora Farm I was very impressed with it too, although the original tree was a wimp compared to the others, but I sensed it had great potential if grafted onto green palmatum rootstock. Well, now Maillot has it and almost all of my newer maples too, including A.p. 'Celebration'*; so all of you Euros who clamor for my cultivars needn't bother me – since I legally can't (and won't) ship to you, so just know they're already on the Continent, and all are available without the troublesome patent restrictions. In that sense, the continents are not drifting apart, rather they have become connected thanks to Japanese maples.

*More about Acer palmatum 'Celebration' in a future blog – if I'm able – because A.p. 'Amber Ghost' was not the mother tree; instead it was a seedling from A.p. 'Purple Ghost'.

Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring'

Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring'

I alluded above to the original A.p. 'Strawberry Spring' being a wimp, and it always was, with one branch or another dying. Its peers, its sister seedlings are 10-20' tall and/or wide already, but 'SS' looks wretched with sawed-off branches and it feebly limps along in its debilitated condition, and probably by summer I will terminate it. Or, come and get it for free if you want – perhaps you can perform a miracle. Though I regret its condition, I'm actually smug that I have a good number of vigorous stock trees in wood boxes that will yield hundreds of quality scions for this summer's grafting. So, I won't cry when the original is gone, rather I'll smile that it happened at all.

Acer palmatum 'Mini Lace'

Acer palmatum 'Mini Lace'

I probably got carried away with some selections and introductions from the myriad of A.p. 'Amber Ghost' seedlings, or at least I question my own motives when it comes to A.p. 'Mini Lace'. I'm certain that I don't have the original anymore, but I can' recall where it went. And, in fact, I only have a couple of trees left at the nursery, so until they prosper I probably won't be grafting any for the next couple of years. I don't know how it became significantly reduced, i.e. how did I allow that to happen, but I suppose that I chose to not dwell on one lost sheep at the expense of the entire flock. Nevertheless 'Mini Lace' is a charming little dwarf with tiny, finely-dissected leaves, and I accept that my light-green laceleaf will never become a commercial success. However, it eagerly promotes itself with scarlet-red autumn color, and wherever it is planted in the garden it will never hog too much space. Obviously I'm fond of 'Mini Lace', and of course I wonder which male pollinated that particular 'Amber Ghost' flower. Only god knows what goes on in my garden at night, or in daylight even, about whom is cavorting with whom. All I know is that thousands of little urchins have resulted, most of which are never championed, but every one is marked with its own individual vitae.

Acer palmatum 'Waveleaf'

Acer palmatum 'Waveleaf' is now highly favored among Japanese maple collectors and commercial growers and I love it myself. However, it prevailed by circumstance since it was initially rejected by me as not worthy of cultivar status. In other words I dismissed the original seedling as “yet another among much better.” Understand that the grower must make a quick thumbs-up or thumbs-down decision about the seedling crops, and that he doesn't have the luxury to trial and evaluate every plant for its full potential. We created a category for our “seedling maples from named cultivars” and called them members of the Rising Stars Series, and generally we sell them at half-price compared to similarly-sized named cultivars. They are all wonderful, interesting maples that I'm sure the gardening public finds of interest, especially at half the price. Some maple collectors are ardent cultivarists, meaning that they want to know exactly what's the full identity of the tree they are buying, so the Rising Stars Series is probably not for them. But other gardeners don't really care about the nomenclatural details – they just see and buy the tree that interests them, and all the better that it only costs half as much as the Named.

So, the seedling that eventually became Acer palmatum 'Waveleaf' languished for a couple of years in the Rising Stars limbo. One spring, however, a number of visitors and customers gravitated to it with enthusiasm, and eventually it also won me over, and...why did I initially dismiss it? In other words, my customers selected it, not me, and so I decided to join them. I pulled it away from its brethren for sale, and slapped on the 'Waveleaf' name because the foliage displayed an undulating rhythm. In many respects I like it more than the similar cultivar, A.p. 'Purple Ghost', because 'Waveleaf' is a little more deeply red-purple, plus with the added movement. The original 'Waveleaf' tree joins a number of other Buchholz originals at Iroki Garden in New York state.

Acer palmatum 'Fred's Wild Dream'

Acer palmatum 'Fred's Wild Dream'

Acer palmatum 'Fred's Wild Dream'

Ditto above with Acer palmatum 'Fred's Wild Dream', for it too was grouped in the Rising Stars Series. The original seedling germinated in 2010, and at about ten years of age it was in a 10 or 20 gallon container growing in full sun with many others...because more valuable crops took priority for our limited greenhouse space. Fred W. and Leonard F. of Dancing Oaks Nursery, Oregon, were visiting one spring when we walked by the Rising group, and both whooped and hollered over some of the seedlings, and they returned with employee Seth to flag the ones they wanted. Of course they fell for the tree in particular that I had long admired, so suddenly I got cold feet about the sale. I decided to hold off until I had a chance to propagate it first, which they totally understood, and to reward them for their patience I eventually gave them the original seedling – which I christened as 'Fred's Wild Dream' – at no charge. I considered the event as a win/win, because their enthusiasm reaffirmed the value of the selection.

Acer palmatum 'Green Tea'

Acer palmatum 'Green Tea'

Acer palmatum 'Green Tea' is a fantastic maple from the mother tree of A.p. 'Amber Ghost', but apparently I am one of the few who thinks so, as sales have never been strong. At this point in my career I don't really care, as I'm not on a mission to convert anyone; in fact that reminds me of the story about a contemporary of Beethoven who was critical of one of his works, and B. responded in so many words: “Of course he doesn't understand it – he's not ready for my music.” I could say the same about 'Green Tea', or I could say that if no one likes it it's because no one knows it. I understand that vigorous green uprights are a difficult sell with a public that prefers red-foliaged maples, but to the few who have seen 'Green Tea' in the fall, it certainly matches the brilliant red intensity of the old war-horse (C. 1882) Acer palmatum 'O sakazuki' which received the RHS Award of Garden Merit. The 'Green Tea' leaves resemble those of 'O sakazuki' as well, and as stated in the Vertrees/Gregory Japanese Maples: “The leaves [of 'O sakazuki'] sometimes cup at the base, hence the name which means 'leaves like a saki cup.” Uhh...there is no such thing as a “saki cup,” it should read sake cup.

Acer palmatum 'Green Tea'

Concerning A.p. 'O sakazuki', Japanese Maples describes the leaves: “For most of the growing season, the leaf color is a good rich green.” And that's where 'Green Tea' differs considerably because its foliage is, well, the lighter color of green tea. Plus, PLUS 'Green Tea' features wonderful new growth in spring with lovely zebra-stripes of fresh red...which portend the autumn show to follow. I really think that 'Green Tea' is in Europe now, or if not, someone come and get it, and then I challenge the RHS to evaluate its merits, and awaken yourselves as to what's happening in America. But then – oh, that's right – I'm not on a mission.

Acer palmatum 'Dark Knight'

Acer palmatum 'Dark Knight'

Acer palmatum 'Dark Knight'

Acer palmatum 'Dark Knight' could be dismissed as yet another A.p 'Purple Ghost' look-alike, and that is true, yet it is different when they're seen side-by-side, and I predict that the maple fan club might choose 'Dark Knight' as slightly superior. Despite the 'Purple Ghost' reference, 'Dark Knight's' mother tree was the same 'Amber Ghost' specimen that gave rise to all the others in this blog. When the selection was named (by me), I thought it was a mildly clever allusion to a “dark night” because the foliage is a luminous dark purple, as in “turn out the lights, good night.” I didn't know at the time that The Dark Knight was a 2008 superhero film somehow connected to the Batman B.S., so I sort of regret the name.

The original Acer palmatum 'Bloody Talons', August 4, 2023

The original Acer palmatum 'Bloody Talons', August 4, 2023

The most unusual seedling from Acer palmatum 'Amber Ghost' has to be A.p. 'Bloody Talons'. I have personally seen over a thousand Japanese maple cultivars – from Europe, America, Japan and Korea – and I have never encountered anything as unique. When I describe “unique,” maybe like its namesake himself, all of the characteristics are not necessarily quality attributes. For one, 'Bloody' is very dwarf, the original seedling now 15 years old is only 24” (61 cm) tall and wide, and it is growing in the lush confines of GH6 in a cedar box, where all of the other cultivars grow exuberantly. Furthermore, often the new growth is very thin, with only a single bud – not the normal pair – at the terminus. We achieve only 50% propagating these mini-shoots, and then the successful grafts can linger for a year or two before we know if it's really going to succeed. A small amount of green rootstock is left above the graft for those couple of years to nurse the scions, but one must not allow the rootstock to overly dominate.

Acer palmatum 'Bloody Talons' in spring

Acer palmatum 'Bloody Talons' in summer

Acer palmatum 'Bloody Talons' in autumn

A.p. 'Bloody Talons' has an unusual olive-green color in spring and early summer, but by July the narrowly curved leaf lobes begin to show a hint of red. Then in autumn the foliage transforms into bloody red, hence its name, and it is an amazing spectacle to see.

Graft union of Acer palmatum 'Bloody Talons'

One less-than-welcome characteristic of A.p. 'Bloody Talons' is that every graft forms a knob at the graft union, and the older the graft, the larger the bulge grows. The original seedling shows no evidence of knotting at its base. Because of the imperfect graft union, perhaps, is the reason the grafts grow very slow as well. Anyway the cultivar is an absolute freak, and while it will never become commonly available, every maple aficionado covets a 'Bloody Talons' in their collection.