Thomas Mitchell
Yamadori
I'm fortunate to have a large county-owned wilderness area basically next door to my home. One section includes what was obviously someone's residential property years ago. The structures are gone but there are loads of very large hybrid rhodies, fruit trees and other ornamental shrubs that have reverted to a wild state. It's quite a beautiful spot so I often pause there on my bike rides to just take a breath and enjoy the plants.
There are also quite a few Japanese maples, most look like basic green A. Palmatum but there is one humongous specimen that has a very interesting growth habit give it's size. It's over 30' tall with a massive trunk. Unlike the airy habit I see in most species palmatums, this one is very dense, almost like a dwarf cultivar. But it's huge... I'm wondering if it's a cultivar given it was planted waaaay back. As noted above, there are a bunch of naturally reproducing palmatums or all sizes nearby but they have the typical open growth habit. Maybe the seeds from this giant one scatter and reverted to the norm?
Definitely going to collect some seeds later this summer. Maybe snip a few cuttings?
A few photos with my bike for scale, you can see it in the shadows in the first photo.
Trunk photo with bike for scale.
Looking upward into the densely branched foliage.
There are also quite a few Japanese maples, most look like basic green A. Palmatum but there is one humongous specimen that has a very interesting growth habit give it's size. It's over 30' tall with a massive trunk. Unlike the airy habit I see in most species palmatums, this one is very dense, almost like a dwarf cultivar. But it's huge... I'm wondering if it's a cultivar given it was planted waaaay back. As noted above, there are a bunch of naturally reproducing palmatums or all sizes nearby but they have the typical open growth habit. Maybe the seeds from this giant one scatter and reverted to the norm?
Definitely going to collect some seeds later this summer. Maybe snip a few cuttings?
A few photos with my bike for scale, you can see it in the shadows in the first photo.
Trunk photo with bike for scale.
Looking upward into the densely branched foliage.
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