I've not posted much the last year or so - about 18 months ago I split up with my partner of 13 years (amicable, still good friends etc) and moved out to rent for a year. While I was renting I sold about 40 of my trees. In December I bought a new house with a corner plot garden, South facing with practically no shade apart from one corner tucked down the side of the house where I'm keeping all my 2/3 year old ghosts and other 'rare' babies for now. This week I've built a pergola and bought a Wisteria, so eventually I'll have another nice shady area. But anyway, I've been placing out maples all around the garden and there are some I'm not sure about regarding sun/heat tolerance. I picked up a couple of little trees last November at a nursery for about £20 each. I'd not seen either of them for sale before - Kotohime and Hime Shojo. The latter does not seem to be in the photo section. I've neither seen many Hime for sale around the South West before, nor been particularly interested in the dwarf cultivars, but thought I'd add them to my collection anyway. Does anyone know how much sun these little guys can take? I've put them in airpots for now as the nursery soil was crap and there wasn't loads of root. I visited my usual Maple nursery up in Leominster during the week as well, and he had a Japonicum 'Ruby', again, I'd not heard of it before and there doesn't seem to be a thread for it in the photo section. Is anyone familiar?
Hi Chris, I'll use this opportunity to shamelessly proselytize for the Maple Society of Britain and Ireland (tmsbi.org). In the cultivar database, you would find pictures and descriptions of all your maples. Lost of other great benefits, we'd love to have you join us. Many of the pictures show them thriving in field conditions, in full sun. All 3 should do fine in sun, so long as they have enough water and the roots don't bake. AJ 'Ruby' is quite red, maybe it needs some sun to bring the red out in the leaves? I know this is so with many of the "red circinatums". Hime-shōjō is really very red,. Here's the TMI part, but this is what I'm working on now. The name info comes from the database. Koto-hime: 琴姫 means Koto Princess, suggesting a Princess skilled in playing the Koto, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. It is usually incorrectly written as 'Kotohime' Hime-shōjō: 姫猩々 could be literally taken to mean Princess Shōjō, the mythical red monkey who enjoys alcohol, and 猩々is usually used to indicated red coloring at some season. According to Kenkyusha 4th ed., it also literally means Orangutan, so we might also say "Princess Orangutan". Cheers, -E
Hi - Wishing you well in your new house. I picked up J. Ruby a couple of years ago, I’ve had it in the typical morning sun only position and it looks healthy, and growing strongly,it does colour up really nicely during the summer. I find wide leafed japonicums burn quite badly when given too much. Hime Shojo - I had this cultivar for about 6 years..same label as yours.. it seemed to be a bit hit and miss, one year looking great, lots of die-back over winter, Spring great then terrible during early the summer.. it snuffed it this winter..and I have been fortunate not to lose many JMs . I wonder if I was unlucky and my one was just on a bad rootstock . It does have lovely solid red small leaves…with short internodes.
