The Doctors Three

The late Dr. Forrest Bump of – yep – Forest Grove, Oregon was an interesting man. He was our family doctor but he was equally famous in our community as a plantsman, in particular as an expert on Rhododendrons. While his patients sat waiting he might well have been attending a Rhododendron conference in Scotland or traipsing through the forests of Sikkim in search of plants for his garden.

Theophrastus

Aristotle

Dr. Bump was well-known for his generosity. He invited me to visit his garden “anytime,” whether he was there or not, and he was delighted when I was interested enough to take cuttings. For him the purpose of plants was to analyze and understand them, to study how they evolved into such fascinating creatures, and then to make sure the visitor had something to take home for his own garden. It would not be hard to imagine Dr. Bump in a toga and sandals discoursing with Theophrastus or Aristotle about whether or not a particular Rhododendron possessed a soul.

Acer palmatum 'Tiger Rose'

Acer palmatum 'Miwa'

Dr. Bump's garden was rather crowded, weedy and wild, but he never seemed to worry about its overall appearance, for he was more focused on the individual contents therein. The greenhouse sagged, its poly torn and flapping, and flats of maple seedlings vied with liverwort to gain purchase; indeed a story of survival of the fittest. One success was the remarkable discovery of a seedling from Acer palmatum 'Azuma murasaki' that he went on to name 'Tiger Rose'. The “tiger” part was due to the stripes found on the reticulated leaves, and the “rose” part was because one early spring morning the foliage displayed a decidedly pinkish hue, and Bump's wife was named Rose besides. At about the same time as he selected and named 'Tiger Rose' I had discovered and introduced Acer palmatum 'Miwa', which I probably would not have done had I known that 'Tiger Rose' was on the horizon. 'Miwa' is a nice name, though, and in Japanese mi means “beautiful” and wa means “peace.” I take that to mean subtle beauty and Miwa makes for a lovely Japanese girl's name; in fact I had a nice Miwa-person encounter years ago, and it was my wife who suggested the name for the maple.

Dr. Mossman with Betula ermanii

Rhododendron occidentale

Rhododendron x 'Taurus'

Acer palmatum 'White Peaches'

Acer palmatum 'White Peaches'

Acer palmatum 'Peaches & Cream'

Another doctor acquaintance was the late Dr. Frank Mossman, and he was no less the plantsman. He was famous for deciduous azalea (Rhododendron occidentale) research and promotion, and it was Mossman who crossed R. strigillosum with R. Jean Marie de Montague to create the fantastic R. x 'Taurus'. He was one of the first – or the first – in America to acquire Acer palmatum 'Peaches and Cream', a variegated maple cultivar from Arnold Teese in Australia who used A. p. 'Shigitatsu sawa' as the seed parent, crossed with A. p. 'Beni shigitatsu sawa' as the pollen source. A dozen or so years later I came across a glowing specimen of 'Peaches and Cream' – or so the label read – in Dr. Bump's garden on a glorious spring day. His source was Dr. Mossman, but Bump's plant appeared more white than the strain I was used to. When quizzed, both doctors independently shrugged their shoulders… like I was the one with the dubious eyesight. I shouldn't say that there is, or can be, two different strains for a cultivar, because it either is, or is not the real 'Peaches and Cream'. Nevertheless, Bump had a more white version. I keep the progeny separate from the Mossman grafts and call the former 'White Peaches' and the latter as 'Peaches and Cream'.

Acer palmatum 'First Ghost'

One explanation for the possibility of two 'Peaches and Creams' occurred on a maple in my landscape, a selection eventually named A.p. 'First Ghost'. It originated as a mutant branch at the top of A.p. 'Aka shigitatsu sawa' (which was eventually renamed A.p. 'Beni shigitatsu sawa'). After a few years of growth I saw the 'Beni s. s.' one evening just before dark, and it looked for all the world like a ghost hovering over a darker tree. At first my propagules were simply named 'Ghost', then changed (before any were sold) to 'First Ghost' when I realized I had developed a “ghost” series. Did you follow that?, that the separate – and now stable – 'First Ghost' originated from a certain part of the original 'Beni shigitatsu sawa', and that 'White Peaches' possibly originated in a similar mutant fashion. This isn't necessarily my theory, and certainly I have no dog in the fight; and it is entirely possible that someone just screwed up a label at some point.

My experience with doctors, by the way, is that they (want) tend to slot phenomena into precise cubbyholes. But like a rebellious child, plants have a mind of their own; and the nurseryman “cannot stop them, but can only hope to contain them.” About 30 years ago a defensive college football lineman – who went onto a long and lucrative professional career – was asked if and how he would be able to stop the offensive prowess of his opponent. He implied that it would be no problem, that he was able to “stop the world from spinning.”

Magnolia macrophylla

Magnolia macrophylla

Dr. Mossman gave me my start of Magnolia macrophylla, and I couldn't believe the flower and leaf size when I encountered it in his garden. He wisely advised me to plant mine in an area protected from the wind, least the leaves tear and tatter, so I planted it at the bottom of my southern woods where the tall fir (Pseudotsuga) trees protect it. Before I had met Dr. Mossman I was already a “veteran” of horticulture, having worked in a wholesale nursery for about six years, and at the time I assumed that I knew just about everything about plants. But I realized how shallow I really was after a walk through his large landscape with a few acres of Betula, Acer, Magnolia, Rhododendrons and much more. Like Dr. Bump's, Mossman's landscape was rough, and the plant identification was solely in the brain of the good doctor…who almost remembered everything…

Rhododendron williamsianum

Rhododendron williamsianum

Dr. Mossman had a couple of Dr. Seuss-like creations planted near his house, where the mop-headed Rhododendron williamsianum was top-grafted at about 5-6' tall. He said his only regret was that he didn't use a more ornamentally impressive species for the trunk, like R. thomsonii.

Acer pentaphyllum

I learned from Mossman that certain Acer species were compatible, and one could successfully graft two amazingly diverse species – Acer pentaphyllum and Acer griseum, both from China – onto Acer rubrum from North America. Indeed, it was from Mossman that I got my start of the rare Acer pentaphyllum, and I now have more in my nursery than exists in the wild in China. We also found it easy to root from softwood cuttings under mist in the summer, though a cutting-grown crop was not as uniform as one using A. rubrum rootstock.

Abies bracteata

Abies bracteata 'Corbin'

Dr. Corbin was the third of the “Three Wise Men,” and though none of these doctors followed any star to find me, Dr. Corbin also allowed me to collect starts from his garden, which I valued more than gold, frankincense or myrrh. One tree that he was particularly fond of was Abies bracteata, the “Bristle-cone fir” from the coastal mountains of mid-California. He would point out the small cones at the top – about 50' up – with their long thin bracts, and he longed to have one in hand but they always disintegrated on the tree. He was in his 70's at the time, too old to climb, and I supposed that he thought I would be able to ascend to gather cones, but I prudently kept my feet on the ground.

Magnolia x 'Burncoose'

Magnolia x 'Caerhay's Surprise'

Dr. Corbin was also well-known for his Magnolias, and in fact the Magnolia Society would gather in his garden. Though climbing the Abies bracteata was too risky, he did climb up into his Magnolia trees and graft scions of newly acquired cultivars. With the boost from a large mother tree, his M. x 'Burncoose' or M. x 'Caerhays Surprise' would flower after a couple of years, as all old gardeners know that their time on earth is limited.

Haruko with Magnolia x 'Caerhay's Belle'

Dr. Corbin was particularly proud of his Magnolia x 'Caerhays Belle' which produced huge blossoms. He proudly showed off a photo of his great granddaughter with a flower as big as her face which was featured in Sunset magazine. I don't have access to that photo so I substituted one of my wife, Haruko.

Magnolia x 'Caerhay's Belle' in the Corbin Section at Flora Farm

I have a couple of 'Caerhay's Belle' near my house, the starts coming from Corbin's garden, and the area is known in the Flora Wonder Arboretum as the “Corbin section.” When he passed away his daughter moved onto the property. While she professed to love the trees, her passion didn't match the doctor's and in one area she wanted to remove a number of larger Acer palmatum cultivars so she could plant plum trees in their stead. I volunteered to dig and preserve the trees to which she agreed. These were planted near the 'Caerhays Belle', hence a “Corbin section.” Mrs. Corbin outlived her husband by six or seven years, and she seemed pleased when we brought her out to see her trees, though she too has now passed.

Who knows what will happen to any of the trees that came from the doctors' gardens? We don't possess them for eternity ourselves, but we can share them with other and they can live on in that way. My time, and my children's time with them will be relatively short, but the trees have been great friends of the family.

Cultivars Not Yet Assessed

Acer palmatum 'Orion'

Acer palmatum 'Orion'

The maple ‘Orion’ in the photo above was planted about ten years ago and is now larger than I am, both taller and more wide. It is said in Vertrees/Gregory Japanese Maples, “Richard P. Wolff of Red Maple Nursery, Pennsylvania, discovered this curious dwarf on a witches’-broom.” I think what was meant is that it was discovered as a witches’-broom, not on a broom. Also I find it surprising that the book’s punctuation uses s’ instead of 's, like I just did with book’s. The plural form of witch is witches, but do various witches ride-share on the same broom? Since the single broom was found in a single tree I think the singular witch’s broom would be more appropriate, and I’d skip the hyphen too. By the way I looked at other broom-originating cultivars in the book, such as ‘Shaina’ – another Wolff introduction – ‘Koto maru’ and ‘Kandy Kitchen’, and at least the Timber Press editor is consistent with the witches’-broom designation… no matter how much I dislike it.

Acer palmatum 'Orion'

Yes, I have been called pedantic before. Anyway, my interest in looking up ‘Orion’ was because I noticed seed on my large specimen. Some aficionados have said that maples originating from brooms do not produce seed, but obviously that is not true. I have never seen seed on ‘Shaina’, however, and my largest specimen is nearly thirty years old. I’ll harvest the ‘Orion’ seed this fall and we’ll see if its viable.

The Vertrees/Gregory book’s latest 4^th edition (2009) was “Revised and expanded to include over 600 plants.” I guess that I grow the majority of them, and also many more that are not in the book. Acer palmatum ‘Orion’ did not make the main lineup of the 600 plants, and instead is relegated to a section called “Cultivars Not Yet Assessed,” where sometimes a small photo is included, and sometimes not, and where a couple of sentences suffice as a description. There will of course always be cultivars “not yet assessed” by any author of any plant book, as it is impossible to be completely up to date. But some of the not-yets have been well-assessed, at least by me, since the 2009 publication. I’ll correct one mistake: that ‘Orion’ is red, not green as written, and I would also be leery of assigning it to a “dwarf group.”

Acer palmatum 'Adrian's Compact'

Let’s take a look at a few other cultivars that many growers today have been able to assess. Acer palmatum ‘Adrian’s Compact’ is correctly described as “red,” but again I'm not sure that I would call it “dwarf.” In fact the book’s first sentence calls it a "medium-sized upright growing shrub..." In my website I size it as “5’ tall by 3’ wide in 10 years,” but as you can see in the photo it grows just as wide as tall, so I should probably amend my original description. ‘Adrian’s Compact’ was selected by the late Adrian Ellerbrook, the propagator at West Oregon Nursery who was the brother of the Dutchman I used to work for. I never met Adrian because he had retired when I did time at West Oregon, but his landscaper-son indicated that his maple was of seedling origin.

Acer palmatum 'Alpine Sunrise'

Acer palmatum 'Alpine Sunrise'

Acer palmatum ‘Alpine Surprise’ is another cultivar in the not yet assessed category, but I think it should be “Sunrise” not “Surprise.” Maybe due to the Vertrees/Gregory book, one will see the surprise name used in Europe, such as at Esveld Nursey in Boskoop, Holland. The lads at MrMaple.com are usually in the know, and their website reads, "‘Alpine Sunrise’ is a dwarf selection of a red Japanese maple found as witch’s [sic] broom mutation in Alpine, NJ by Bob McCaffery.” Mr. Maple describes ‘Alpine Sunrise’ as a “miniature,” but for me it will attain 6’ tall by 3’ wide in 10 years. I think it is a worthy selection for its dense pillar-like habit, deep red foliage in spring and summer – at least in Oregon – and outstanding bright crimson color in fall.

Acer palmatum 'Ao yagi gawa'

Curiously Acer palmatum ‘Ao yagi gawa’ is listed with the Ao and yagi as two words, while the cultivar ‘Aoyagi’ combines them. ‘Aoyagi’ is the older listing and it features green palmate leaves while ‘Ao yagi gawa’ is in the linearlobum group due to its “strapleaf” lobes. Gregory mentions that ‘Ao yagi gawa’ features two types of leaves, that most have “very narrow untoothed lobes but a fair proportion, although still in the strapleaf category, are broader and have clearly toothed margins.” For me, this phenomena gives the tree an appearance with more depth than if all lobes were the same.

Acer palmatum 'Pung Kil'

A red counterpart to ‘Ao yagi gawa’ is Acer palmatum ‘Pung kil’, and it too displays the two types of lobes. V/G writes that “This Korean cultivar is similar to 'Red Pygmy' but with longer, narrower strap like lobes.” My experience is that ‘Pung kil’ grows at three times the rate as ‘Red Pygmy’, plus it holds its purple red color in summer much better than ‘Red Pygmy’. Apparently ‘Pung kil’ – the worst maple name ever – originated as a seedling of Acer palmatum f. atropurpureum, and my original start came to me with the name ‘Pung kill’. According to MrMaple.com the name translates as a “look of wind,” describing how “these thin red strap leaves flow in the wind.” I wrote in a Flora Wonder Blog about three years ago that Pung kil was actually a person’s name, and that he was associated with the Chollipo Arboretum in Korea, and if so, then the cultivar should be spelled with a capital K.

Acer palmatum 'Dragon's Fire'

Acer palmatum 'Dr. Brown'

Acer palmatum 'Van den Akker'

The likable Acer palmatum ‘Dragon’s Fire’ was unassessed at the time of 2009 edition but we have a pretty good feel for it now. Leaves are deeply dissected and are colored bronze-red, a nice alternative to the more common purple-reds of ‘Red Dragon’, ‘Crimson Queen’, ‘Tamuke yama’ etc. In many respects 'Dragon's Fire' is similar to Acer palmatums ‘Dr. Brown’ and ‘Van den Akker’ and I think these slow-growing, mounding dissectums with the bronze-red to brown-red foliage make nice additions to the landscape, but maybe it’s because I have become over-saturated with the purple-reds that are seen by the millions in American gardens. V/G states that ‘Dr. Brown’ is a green dissectum, and indeed they include a greenish photo taken by Peter Gregory. Mention is made of its “brown-red new leaves” though, and maybe the “green” resulted from being grown in shade. As for ‘Van den Akker’ the photo and description are not the same plant as that currently growing in the trade. V/G pictures a large green leaf and a cultivar in the matsumurae group. The ‘Van den Akker’ that I know was selected by a Washington state landscaper, he of Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Van den Akker’ fame. Perhaps there is someone else from Holland or elsewhere who selected the V/G maple; or more likely the photo and description have been mixed up by the author or by Timber Press, both of which have occurred in other cases.

Acer palmatum 'Peve Dave'

Acer palmatum 'Kinshi'

Vergeldt Nursery in the Netherlands has a couple under-assessed selections, and as with all Vergeldt introductions, both maples and conifers, the cultivar name begins with the prefix Peve (for Piet Vergeldt). So we have a variegated Ginkgo – ‘Peve Maribo’, a compact Taxodium – ‘Peve Minaret’, a dwarf Serbian spruce – ‘Peve Tijn’ etc. V/G include Acer palmatums ‘Peve Dave’ and ‘Peve Multicolor’ in the 2009 edition's category. I don’t know who “Dave” is, but sometimes Vergeldt plants are named after sons, employees, and maybe also friends and neighbors. I like ‘Peve Dave’ but there’s not a huge demand for it. V/G says, “This strapleaf is similar to the green ‘Kinshi’ in habit and size, but has slightly broader lobed leaves…” I don’t think they are so similar, and judge for yourself from the photos above. In spring ‘Peve Dave’ has lustrous red-purple leaves, but after our typical 100 degree F July-August spells the color will fade to more bronze-red. Don’t be too quick to dismiss the color, though, because late summer’s new growth will perk it up again.

Acer palmatum 'Peve Multicolor'

Acer palmatum 'Shigitatsu sawa'

As for Acer palmatum ‘Peve Multicolor’, the book lumps it into the ‘Shigitatsu sawa’ group of variegates, and one wonders if the parent tree to the seedling selection is known. I have raised many look-alikes to ‘Shigitatsu sawa’ – such as the “Ghost Series” – but ‘Peve Multicolor’ is unlike anything that I have grown. At first you would suspect the white leaves to fry in Oregon, but I have a specimen in the garden that holds up with very little PM shade. As a container plant on the patio with a little shade, ‘Peve Multicolor’ commands attention, especially when placed next to red-leaved cultivars.

Acer palmatum 'Margaret'

Acer palmatum ‘Margaret’ is described as “palmatum group, green,” and was selected by Dick van der Maat of Boskoop “for its outstanding bright yellow fall color.” I’ve never seen the yellow, only orange, and it illustrates why pronouncing fall color should probably be done by committee. Besides the fall color, van der Maat writes in his book, De Collection, “The small 5-7 lobed leaves emerge a light pink with yellow-green centres which gradually change to light green for the summer. It forms a compact tree, perfect to use for bonsai." I don’t know about its use for bonsai, but it is a pretty compact tree, though the green-leaved cultivars never have the same commercial appeal as their red counterparts.

Acer palmatum 'Rhode Island Red'

Acer palmatum 'Rhode Island Red'

Rhode Island Red hen

Acer palmatum ‘Rhode Island Red’ was perhaps too new to include in the Japanese Maples top 600 in 2009, but now it is grown by the thousands. It is a slow-growing upright tree with a broad form, but a good selection for the smaller garden. Foliage in spring is bright red before turning to a more dark red in summer, then in autumn the gardener is treated to outstanding orange and red coloration. This cultivar comes from Rhode Island Nurseries in Middletown, Rhode Island, and not surprising since Gallus gallus domesticus – the Rhode Island Red hen – is the state bird, and was so-designated on May 3, 1954.

Acer palmatum 'Usu midori'

Acer palmatum 'Usu midori'

Acer palmatum ‘Usu midori’ is not a strong grower, but it can be so delightful in spring that you somewhat forgive that it will burn by summer if not sited properly. New foliage is green-yellow in April, changing to light yellow by June, then leaves can turn to yellow with red tips in autumn. Midori is “green” in Japanese, and when used with the word usu it means “light green.” I received my start in about 2009 when the Timber Press maple book was published, but when young the cultivar didn’t impress me. A few years later an enthusiastic customer discovered a group in the back end of a greenhouse and gushed about its beauty. I’m glad she visited when she did, for they were indeed wonderful then, but a month later they were half defoliated from sun scorch. I pruned back the new growth so they wouldn’t look so bad, and they rebounded nicely later in summer with fresh yellow new growth. V/S calls ‘Usu midori’ “ a small hardy tree with colorful spring foliage similar to ‘Katsura’.” For me it is much more slow-growing than ‘Katsura’, and I doubt that it could withstand colder winters than -10 degrees F, USDA Zone 6.

Acer x 'Gossamer'

Acer japonicum 'Ao jutan'

I received the slow-growing Acer japonicum ‘Gossamer’ about seven years ago and it is now only waist high. I guess it should be listed as Acer x ‘Gossamer’ since it is reputed to be a cross between A. japonicum and a green A. palmatum f. dissectum. The word gossamer means “light, delicate or tenuous” and it comes from Middle English gossamer, from gos for “goose” and somer for “summer.” ‘Gossamer’ is definitely not a name I would have chosen and I don’t see what the maple has to do with a summer goose. To me it looks like a smaller-leaf version of Acer japonicum ‘Ao jutan’, except with a more compact body. I would call ‘Gossamer’ more strange than beautiful, so naturally it will be popular with collectors afflicted with maple fever.

Acer circinatum 'Pacific Sprite'

Peter Gregory provides a crummy photo of Acer circinatum ‘Pacific Sprite’ and calls it “a dwarf tree with small deep green crinkly leaves turning orange-red in the fall.” My largest specimen is 12’ tall by 10’ wide at 10 years of age, with A. palmatum used as rootstock, and it is an oversized hunk that will have to be cut down in a couple of years. When I first acquired ‘Pacific Sprite’ I speculated that it would grow to only 6’ tall by 2’ wide in 10 years, but that was based on observation of a tree in another’s garden. I haven’t propagated it the last two or three years because frankly I don’t like it. Furthermore my specimen turns to brown-yellow in the fall, nothing spectacular, then the leaves smother the dwarf conifers beneath it.

Acer circinatum 'Sunny Sister'

Acer circinatum 'Sunglow'

V/S wrote of Acer circinatum ‘Sunny Sister’, “New from Talon Buchholz, [it] has yellow gold leaves in spring with pink tinges, later turning green with pink tinges. As the name suggests, this vine maple thrives in a site with sun.” Well, actually not; it does prefer partial shade over full sun. It received its name because it was a sister seedling with Acer circinatum ‘Sunglow’ along with five more siblings that are apparently lost to horticulture. V/S is correct that ‘Sunglow’ and the other seedlings were discovered by gardener Floyd McMullen of Portland, Oregon. He passed away before I could meet him, but mutual friend Reuben Hatch (aka my Grandfather) dug two of the seedlings out of his garden for me. ‘Sunny Sister’ is the more vigorous of my two “sisters,” while ‘Sunglow’ is perhaps the more colorful.

Acer palmatum 'Spring Plum'

Acer shirasawanum 'Mikado'

Again there will always be maple selections that are “not yet assessed.” But that doesn’t keep them from being propagated, named and sold. They may or may not prove stable and worthy, but then I can name quite a few of the 600 mainstays in the book that I don’t think are worthy, at least in my collection. My personal code is that if I intend to propagate a selection that I have made, then I will name it before hand. This is contrary to what Vertrees and others preached, but I have defended my position before so I won’t rehash it now.

Acer shirasawanum 'Sonya Marie'

Acer shirasawanum 'Green Snowflake'

Appendix D follows the Not Yet Assessed, and it lists Cultivar Names Not Elsewhere Described, and it’s a bit scary that there’s over a thousand of these that have been named. Some are my plants like ‘Sonya Marie’, ‘Shira Red’, ‘Heavy Seed’, ‘Iro iro’, ‘Green Snowflake’ and many others. Some of these one thousand are in the trade and some are not. Authoring a book on maple cultivars seems like an endless purgatory, and I’m worn out already with my little Flora Wonder Blog.