...the maple grafting saga continues, my epikos that began nearly half a century ago. The subject itself is very interesting if you are fascinated with plants; if you don't agree the fault is not nature's, rather mine for not telling the story adequately. This five-part propagation recount – yes, today's #5 will be the finale – was never intended to be scientific nor comprehensive, instead it's a snapshot that details (just) this grower's experiences and methods. Forgive me that I seem to dwell on the four dubble yuze: “whine,” “wimper” and “worry,” which I probably do in all of my blogs. Oh – the fourth – is “wonder,” ...for the sheer joy of the process inspired my life and resulted in a modestly successful career. I was pretty good at making babies since I fathered five children and raised approximately two million Japanese maples. The children all turned out to be winners, and my hope for the Acers is that most will thrive and outlive me. The kids too of course.
I still show up at Buchholz Nursery – an hour's drive away – to assist, though I know that my welcome is not indefinite, or should I say definite? In any case I'm still cutting thousands of scions per week, plus trying to pass on my experiences and theories to the new management, so at least I remain moderately useful. Also I provoke and challenge these newcomers, almost daily suggesting trials and experiments and to keep track of the results, and I frequently admonish them to “find out for yourselves.” I still want to learn too, so at this point I'm making selfish use of the company which I'm able to do on their dime.
Each of the four grafters this spring has his or her own clipboard with a handwritten graft form. I (or Jordan) fills out the number to graft when we cut the scions, then we indicate the scion location, who cut them and from where, and finish by adding any pertinent notes. This year, since some are new employees, we include in these notes a comment even if the scions look “perfect” so we can learn if perfect leads to “almost perfect” results. In the past we didn't bother with so much detail because both I, and former employee Phil T. cut everything so we already knew that we cut the best scionwood available to us, even when it wasn't perfect, so we accepted the good, the bad and the ugly for however it turned out. After the grafter completes a variety – whether its 10 scions or a couple of hundred – he enters the number actually grafted with the date. When a sheet is completed it goes to Seth to enter the totals in the computer.
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| Acer palmatum 'Frosted Purple' |
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| Acer palmatum 'Frosted Purple' |
Let's take a look at a random compilation page. The grafter “D” (David) was told there were 475 scions of Acer palmatum 'Frosted Purple' from Box Area 19. JE (Jordan Ellis) cut the scions which he described as “very good” with 1-3 nodes. JE can describe them however he wants because he is the one who cut them, and the notes will hopefully be an aid to improve his future propagation success. I studied the stock trees before he cut the scions, and afterward as well to see if there would be more possible for later. I would have described the wood as middling, with many as rather thin and not as stout as ideal. The eight trees he cut from were recently potted up, but maybe one or two should have been grounded in the gardens for the future. So while I would not describe the scions as “very good,” I nevertheless predict our graft take will be at least “pretty good.”
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| Two Perfect Scions (Left), Useless Water Shoot (Right) |
To date we have grafted 360 of the hugely popular Acer palmatum 'Geisha Gone Wild', on July 26th and August 9th, and we'll continue to stagger on three or four more times, and next the scions will come from different locations. Our success has always been excellent, largely because we had an abundance of stock to cut from. 'Geisha Gone Wild' is a vigorous clone that produces long, arching 3-5' water shoots. We eschew these soft stems in favor of short, stubby inner wood that hardens at the tip with no fluffy extra new growth. Experienced grafters know what I'm talking about, and I'm sure the lay plants-person would quickly understand if we were standing next to the tree. What might remain uncertain is why one type of wood is successful and the other not. The answer would be something like, “I don't know for sure, but that's just the way it is, at least in our nursery.” And if you work for me, we had better do it my way. However, I always invite the serious employee to go ahead and conduct an experiment, keep track of the results and find out for yourself. Develop your own theories. Sadly most don't have the energy or discipline to follow through on the offer.
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| Acer palmatum 'Ikandi' in spring |
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| Acer palmatum 'Ikandi' in spring |
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| Acer palmatum 'Ikandi' in August |
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| Acer palmatum 'Ikandi' in August |
There's apparently no limit on sales for MrMaple and Buchholz Nursery for the colorful introduction of Acer palmatum 'Ikandi'. The established trees in our landscape glimmer with silvery August foliage, and after we reached 107 F (42 C) in July the pinks and whites of spring transitioned nicely. The problem for production is that none of our stock's new shoots are hard enough for scion wood, and we might have to wait until the end of September, if then at all. As you can see from the list, D. grafted 50 anyway, but the scions were two and three-year-old wood which were short and hard. This was my experiment and I'll follow the results closely, as it might become our future strategy. I have had mixed results in the past with what I term “crap-wood,” usually coming from dwarf or witch's broom cultivars. I was pleased when 38 out of 50 Acer palmatum 'Beni hime' grafts took a few years ago, and they went on to fill a gallon pot in just two additional years. Sometimes you accept lower results, and pencil the lower percentage into your sales price.
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| Acer palmatum 'Julia' |
You can see that we grafted only 35 Acer palmatum 'Julia', and that number was limited to all scions available from one remaining stock tree. I cut the wood so I know, and I even scrounged off the “very thin” sticks. I had sold down on 'Julia' because it's not one of the stronger growers of the reticulated variegates. The foliage is soft and beautiful in spring, especially when given frost protection and shade in the greenhouse, but it's comparatively ugly at this time of year. It forms more of a bush than a tree, at least at Buchholz Nursery, and consequently it's not as vigorous, useful and profitable as our stellar Acer palmatums 'Amber Ghost' and 'Celebration'. My start was given to me by the late plantsman Bill Devine (1927-2022), a man I never met, but he was plant generous anyway. That was about 25 years ago, but for some reason I previously labeled it as 'Julia D'. At the time of the Vertrees/Gregory Japanese Maples 4th edition (2009) it is listed in the appendix under “Cultivar Names Not Elsewhere Described” as simply 'Julia', so I changed my labels to match. I assumed 'Julia D.' was named for a family member.
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| Acer palmatum 'Ken bu' |
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| Acer palmatum 'Ken bu' |
Acer palmatum 'Kenbu' is also in build-up mode. Hopefully most of the 42 attempted will live and if kept here for future scionwood we can produce the three or four hundred that MrMaple and Buchholz can sell per year. It's very likable in appearance, looking something like a hybrid of bamboo and cannabis. It forms a neat, tidy upright tree that's soft and lushiously light-green in spring, but still can withstand 100 F in full sun; then in autumn the leaves become dramatically red. Vertrees/Gregory also list it under Not Elsewhere Described, but spell as 'Ken bu', two words.
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| Acer palmatum 'Ken bu' |
Yesterday, I was on the phone with my Japanese wife about family matters. She was in a hurry and raced through her agenda because she was running late on something more important than me; I'm used to it and it happens often. But I risked one last question that I hoped she could quickly answer: 'What is the meaning of “kenbu?”' She groaned and reminded me that I asked the same question a year ago, and I realized that she was right, that I did seek the meaning a year ago, but at the time she concluded that its translation was unknown to her. She – and anyone else – can grow weary of my etymological pursuits, and wonders why I'm so obsessed with name origins. I suggest that I could have a worse hobby, like collecting sports cars, guns or mistresses etc. Haruko hurried off a possible meaning, that maybe “ken” could mean “sword” and “bu” could refer to movement like “dancing.” I quickly thanked her and hung up, truly wanting her to be correct, as I loved the revelation that 'Ken bu' could mean “dancing swords.” I think my photos (above) illustrate a strong possibility that she is correct.
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| Acer palmatum 'Kin pai' |
The final cultivar that I'll discuss is the new Acer palmatum 'Kin pai', and since the scionwood came from MrMaple in a deleafed fashion I didn't really know what we were getting. No information was available in Vertrees/Gregory, nor in Masayoshi Yano's tome Book for Maples, so I could only gather from the description posted on the internet by MrMaple: “'Kin pai' is a newer selection from Yutaka Tanaka at Tsukasa Maple in Japan. 'Kin pai' was found as a variegated sport on the ever popular 'Osakazuki'. According to Yutaka Tanaka, 'Kin pai' when written in Japanese characters, literally means, “variegated from 'O sakazuki'.” I didn't run that translation past Haruko as I sensed that her version would possibly differ, and I didn't want to continue yapping about a cultivar that I have never seen in active growth. But that's the great fun about the Buchholz/MrMaple merger, that this old geezer gets to rejuvinate his tired life with fresh, new maple acquaintances.
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Prologue to an Epilogue
At the onset of this summer, 2024 grafting season I thought that I would direct the propagation effort in the manner and with the procedures that guided me in the past. Then the new owners and employees would – and should – alter the methods to best fit their needs. But first, absorb and analyze, then incorporate new ideas incrementally to see if what has worked in the past can be tweaked to improvement. Throughout the transition my goal was to be the best ex-owner Ever, to relax my grip of micromanagement and allow the company to flourish or flounder without my involvement. I conclude that a company succeeds by making money – duh – but the other side of the equation is to not spend unnecessarily, wastefully. I find that the latter requires more diligence and is understandably less welcome.
While MrMaple zooms into the future with Buchholz Nursery we'll see how it all turns out. No one likes my “we'll see” summations, as it implies that I'm not confident about the outcome. But that's just with individual projects, not the overall success of the company. Let's be blunt: “confidence” is not a black or white condition, it's a continuum that varies as much as one's mood is based on weather or moon-cycles I suppose. And I've never been 100% confident about my relationships with plants anyway; Flora has seen to that. Also, “overall success” of the company is a subjective measurement as well. I worked feverishly for over four decades to create and maintain a “B” level nursery. A higher grade was possible and within reach; I could see it but could never get over the hump.
The real epilogue to Summer Maple Propagation, 2024, will have to wait until next spring. The results will be apparent about mid April, 2025. Then, we'll know what worked, and what didn't.
Until April then...
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