I have 10 "Butterfly" maples growing in #1 pots. 9 of them are identical, and look like typical "Butterfly" cultivars, but the 10th maintained it's pink emerging variegation through most of last year, and the leaves stayed quite small (~50 percent of the size of the others). This year, once again, 9 emerged as expected, and my little Pink Dragon (as I started calling it) looks like a completely different cultivar (see photos below). It is quite a striking tree and more pink than any JM I've previously owned (and we're talking >1000 trees!) Is this sort of thing common? Should I expect reversion to the standard "Butterfly" form at some point? And when would you consider trying to propagate the mutant? 1st photo: sticking out like a sore thumb 2nd photo: comparing standard "Butterfly" leaves to the mutant
They do look very different ! But I can't tell if you can propagate it, it's probably worth a try. Mine has always had variegated leaves, especially this year, but if the main branches have leaves with a lot of white and pink this year, ome leaves looking a lot like yours, a lower branch is not so spectacular : I made a few airlayers from this original specimen, my son has a big one - 1m50, 5 feet tall, from this one but I haven't seen it since it budded out. I bought it in 2008 and first grew it as a bonsai, but I decided to put it in a bigger pot, variegated maples never make "top of the shelf" bonsai. At least not with me ;-) Jan. 2008, Oct. 2011, July 2012 :
That is very interesting! It looks like the marginal variegation has somehow expanded to cover the whole leaf in most cases. There are a few leaves that retain sections of green that look very Butterfly-like. I would test propagate in small quantities to see how well they take and how stable they are once grafted - good luck!
I’ve had a couple of these (Butterfly) over the years and I have never seen this. It’s quite extraordinary imo. Question, how long have you had this? Was last year your first year with this particular tree? I wonder whether it is something entirely different. The trunk/bark is a different colour. Whatever it is is extremely pretty.
I've had it for about 9 months. It remained pink the majority of last summer before bronzing into the late summer/fall, dropped its leaves, and the re-emerged pink last month largely the same as when I got it last year. I also noted the different bark color and wondered if it was accidentally mislabeled, although the overall height and branch pattern looks identical to the other "Butterfly" trees.
The bark colour can be affected by variegation because the plastids are in the bark as well as the leaves. So a mutation could cause the bark colour to change along with the leaf colour.
Well, here we are in June, re-potted and in a sheltered spot Plant still looks identical to leaf-out in April. Might try to graft some of the new growth in August!
Now in July, the leaves are mostly white.. still sharply contoured and delicate, a bit like "Hippy fin mo". I'm thinking of calling this "White Lotus" if the grafts take and the traits persist.
That is a really cool looking tree! I say graft it and see if the offspring stay true. It looks like it would prefer shade. You could trial the new grafts in different sun aspects to get a better idea of sun preference and colors......you could send me one to see how it grows in southeast! Lol. Worth a try.
