Our summer grafting program labors on, with weather fluctuating between sunny and pleasant to downright repressively hot. We proceed no matter what, no time-out for comfort. One can be considered a serious scion-cutter if you personally have harvested a couple hundred thousand in your career, but only if the vast majority then proved successful. You can't wander along about it either, you must constantly hurry to make sure you're not the supply-chain issue, as there are many thousands yet to graft. Chop Chop!
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' |
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' |
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' |
The 20s in August is a good time to wrap up loose ends. As I detailed previously, before the onset of graft production I scout the entire nursery, greenhouse by greenhouse, row by row, and note which plant cultivars have produced quality scionwood, and in what container size. The field and garden locations are listed in named sections, for example: Blue Forest NE or Display Garden 18. For the cultivar Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' we have grafted a couple hundred from two identified sections, with Jordan and I coordinating so we don't duplicate the effort. And now, a month later, it is time to polish them off by finishing the last two locations and that will be that; no more 'Aureum' grafts unless scions are received from elsewhere. Then we go on to complete another variety, once and for all whether it be a solo tree or a quarter greenhouse full. Check off, check off, Anton Chekhov all through August. The “wishful schedule” suggests that we should be comfortably over half-way with production by August 23rd, but the compilation reveals that we are still at less than half. Furthermore, the scion harvest has already completed the low-hanging fruit, and now we are up in ladders or bending down to one-gallon containers to harvest all that are possible. The push comes from Corporate Headquarters to fill the place up again. But perhaps they over-indulged in rootstocks.
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Bronze Age' |
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Bronze Age' |
When I decided to finish nursery ownership I sold down a lot
of inventory, especially those trees that supplied lots of scionwood from Flora
Farm. Now, MrMaple would like us to propagate x number of Acer
shirasawanum 'Bronze Age' per year, at least in the near future. However, our
stock has been reduced to only one-gallon containers in two locations, and
we'll only find about one-tenth of what they would like. It's tough to build
supply back up, especially since they can easily sell all of our one gallons
for good profit. It's a special challenge to Joel in the management and sales
department to keep the North Carolinian brothers from draining our coffers.
During my entire career of Buchholz Nursery ownership I witness the sales
department clashing with the propagation department, and neither
side was particularly happy about the compromise. I spent most of my career in
agitation since I headed both departments.
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Bronze Age' |
It's difficult to explain the A.s. 'Bronze Age' appeal
except to simply explain that Japanese maple aficionados find it delightful. My
wife Haruko instantly latched on to it from the beginning, and one time at the
Bartlett Arboretum in Charlotte, North Carolina, she spotted a solo specimen in
a group of one hundred other containerized cultivars waiting for autumn
planting. While Buchholz Nursery was the introducer of 'Bronze Age', I
readily concede that I'm not certain of its parentage, but probably Acer palmatum
is involved. It was germinated in about 2002, then named, propagated and sold
about a decade later. The leaf shape reminds me of Acer palmatum 'Trompenburg'
with a down-turned leaf lobe, but the 'Bronze Age' color is more brownish-red.
The original seedling is no longer at the nursery, and sadly I don't have a
record of who we sold it to. I didn't keep track of the original – and many
others – because I didn't anticipate the day that I would reminisce about our
introductions. I do have record of all the 'Bronze Age' sales, but nothing
tells me which was the original tree. In any case, my hybrids – or supposed
hybrids – are my favorite among almost all the other maples cultivars, and it
will be fun to observe what might germinate from their seeds which are ripening
even now.
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Mikado' |
 |
| Acer shirasawanum 'Mikado' |
I relate to maple cultivars, especially Buchholz Nursery introductions, as family members. My oldest two daughters (from the same mother) are similar but different. And my youngest two (from wife Haruko) are likewise. Maybe with the latter two I would liken H. to 'Bronze Age', while my youngest S. would be the different, but enchanting Acer shirasawanum 'Mikado'. Not surprising with a gruff German-American father and an elegant Japanese mother. Both maples are winning tickets, as are the daughters, and it's a pleasure to witness offspring that surpass the parents.
 |
| Acer palmatum 'Hubbs Red Willow' |
 |
| Acer palmatum 'Hubbs Red Willow' |
Speaking of similarities, Acer palmatum 'Hubbs Red Willow'
and 'Pung Kil' are both purple-red linearlobum, “strap-leaf” selections. I
described earlier in this summer-maple propagation series about the vigor and
commercial appeal of 'Hubbs Red Willow', but that the literature still condemns
it with the wrong name of 'Hupp's' or 'Hubb's', and even our overseers MrMaple
still insist on the incorrect 'Hubb's'. The Buchholz Nursery assertion
that it should be rendered 'Hubbs' (with no apostrophe) was based on blog-coproducer
Seth's research. I already have plenty of detractors with many of my opinions
expressed in the Flora Wonder Blog, so I certainly aim to be solid in my
evidence to not attract further condemnation. When I again quizzed Seth – which
I should never do again, that's for sure – he stridently accepted the challenge
and made his own case without word by slapping a paper copy of the Riverton,
New Jersey 1970s community newspaper's obituary confirming Mrs. Mildred
Hubbs...'s demise, with mention of husband Elwood Hubbs's previous passing.*
Seth is not to be trifled with.
*See obituary at blog's end.
 |
| Acer palmatum 'Pung Kil' |
The similar – to 'Hubbs' – cultivar, Acer palmatum 'Pung
Kil' also has a problematic name. It appears in the Vertrees/Gregory Japanese
Maples (Timber Press 2009) as one of the potentials of “cultivars not
yet assessed.” There it is identified as 'Pung kil' with a lower-case “k,”
with the explanation that the synonym “kill” is a misspelling. As I
understand the story the discoverer or introducer was Mr. Pung Kil who
is-or-was associated with Korea's Chollipo Arboretum. If that's the case I
guess the “Kil” should be capitalized too. I actually prefer 'Pung Kil' over
the 'Hubbs Red Willow' because the former features long, very narrow lobes but
also they blend in with many wilder-lobed leaves; the mixture of leaf sizes
gives the tree a more dynamic rhythm compared to the relatively boring 'Hubbs
Red Willow'. 'Pung Kil' is also vigorous with a full, neat canopy, and if you
could plant only one Japanese maple in your garden it wouldn't be a bad choice.
Jordan cut the 'Pung Kil' scions this year because 1) we have a good supply and
2) I didn't want to hog all of the fun varieties. “Fun” means you have a lot to
choose from and the scions occur between 3' and 8' tall on the trees, so you
don't exhaust yourself dragging a ladder around or by bending low to the
ground. It's rewarding to be able to cut 500 beautiful 'Pung Kil' sticks in
just a little over an hour, and I even suspect that the grafters receive an
extra nudge to their work speed when the refrigerator is filled with plenty to
do. I can't think of a worse maple cultivar name, however, but no offense to
Mr. Kil and his wonderful selection.
 |
| Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring' |
Nursery veteran Seth is tasked with compiling the graft counts – all of the hundreds of varieties coming from various places with perhaps a different grafter each time. We intentionally spread the risk, sometimes we'll go to a specific cultivar five times during the propagating season, then maybe more on our hot callus bed later in winter. Notes are kept on the condition of the scionwood from each location because the new administration is undergoing a crash-course on summer maple propagation. Seth expressed surprise at the number of Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring' that we have finished from three different dates so far this summer. He then grew skeptical at the total, wondering if we really did that many or perchance did someone report the same bag twice? We need accuracy on inventory, many decisions depend on it, and besides MrMaple is connected to our computers so they can keep a weekly tab on our output.
 |
| Acer palmatum seedlings |
Acer palmatum 'Strawberry Spring' originated as a seedling
from the mother tree of A.p. 'Amber Ghost', itself the strongest grower with
the best canopy-shape of all from the original “Ghost Series.” About 100 of its
offspring were planted out at Flora Farm in full sun in the “real world”
world, and every spring I would admire a certain one's happy foliage, even
though this original seedling grew as a runt compared to most of the others. As
a grafted plant, however, the propagules grow as vigorously and with as good a
shape as its 'Amber Ghost' parent. I've mentioned a number of times that an
original seedling's growth characteristics are of no importance when describing
a grafted crop, and now I have a number of specimens that are twice as large as
the original. 'Strawberry Spring' makes a wonderfully colorful one-gallon
container, bushy and full, or at least the way we grow them.
 |
| Acer truncatum 'Baby Dragon' |
 |
| Acer truncatum 'Super Dragon' |
We have also begun our “Norway maple,” Acer platanoides, propagation with both Norway cultivars and Acer truncatum cultivars. I despair when I see the hefty rootstocks which are twice the caliper of our typical Acer palmatums. The grafters insist that they are more comfortable using razor-blade knives than a regular Tina grafting knife, but for the record I've grafted more than all three of them put together, with sufficient success, using only a Tina. Anyway it's a challenge to slice through the carrot-sized trunks with a wobbly blade, but at least the scionwood is reasonably sized with many of the A. truncatum cultivars being sent from MrMaple's North Carolina stock.
 |
| Acer platanoides 'Maltese Cross' |
 | |
|
 |
| Acer platanoides 'Maltese Cross' |
 |
| Maltese Cross |
One fun cultivar of Norway maple is 'Maltese Cross', so named for its curiously-shaped leaf. It's a vigorous selection with a broad, dense canopy, deep green in spring and summer, turning to yellow-orange in autumn. Unfortunately it is only suitable for a park or large landscape, and the tree-photo above is our happy specimen with ample room at Flora Farm.
.jpg) |
| Acer platanoides 'Rezek' original seedling |
 |
| Acer platanoides 'Rezek' |
 |
| Acer platanoides 'Rezek' |
 |
| Acer platanoides 'Rezek' |
Another cultivar we'll attempt on platanoides is Acer
platanoides 'Rezek', the original tree which is at the nursery. The late Mr.
Rezek was a noted plantsman from New York who mainly dabbled with conifers, but
he routinely discovered dwarf, twisted, mutant seedlings which appeared
spontaneously in his garden which he would give away to plant friends. The
curious thing, though, is that Rezek couldn't point to the seed source, as
there certainly wasn't a mother tree on his property or in the immediate vicinity.
One grower friend named his little runt 'Curly Lamp Post', which I thought was
an apt and very cute name, and a few specialty growers attempted to propagate
from it. Apparently no one was commercially successful so it didn't become
common in the trade. I named my seedling 'Rezek' – a temporary code name – when
we attempted our first grafts. I couldn't call it 'Curly Lamp Post', even
though it closely resembled it, because technically individual seedlings are
not clonal. I could sell hundreds of 'Rezek' per year but our grafting success
is poor, usually 5%-10% each year. It is fantastic when you get one going in a
small or rock garden...slow growing and narrow, a golden pillar in the autumn
landscape. One gripe about the bizarre 'Rezek' is the graft union with Norway
rootstock, as you're forever pruning away the suckers. The bole grows larger by
the year and the relatively small graft above can in no way keep up. I'll be
curious if our propagants can achieve middle age – say, between 30 and 50 years
old – or will the rootstock swallow up and choke out the scion? I won't be here
so someone else will have to report the results.
We'll be relieved to slog through the Norway rootstocks – there's a couple thousand of them – but our grafting speed is reduced compared to the palmatums. When they're done we'll begin with Acer buergerianum and its cultivars, and there too our rootstock is larger than we would prefer. Frankly, grafting is the easy step in the propagation process; acquiring and managing the rootstock for all the different species is the greater challenge. If every potted rootstock reached just 3/16-4/16 in caliper, that would be perfect. But I've never had a year where everything turned out perfect.
What?! – there's rumors that the grafters will be taking the day off on Monday, the Labor Day holiday...Hmm. No time off for me. Even at night I dream about maple propagation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Bucks County Courier Times
Mildred R. (Rapp) Hubbs passed away peacefully on Aug. 26, 2012 at Riverview Estates where she was a resident. She was 94.
She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Elwood Hubbs, and sister, Marion Cavin.
She was born and raised in Palmyra and was a graduate of Palmyra High School, Class of 1936.
Upon her marriage to Elwood, they owned and operated Hubbs Nursery in Cinnaminson.
She was a longtime member of Riverton Country Club and enjoyed traveling, golf, bowling and playing bridge.
She leaves many wonderful nieces and nephews.
Burial will be in Asbury Methodist Church in Cinnaminson. Funeral arrangements will be private.
No comments:
Post a Comment