Every year Metro Maples tries new varieties to see how they
perform and selects the best as Maple Rookie of The Year. For 2008
there are lots of new candidates, shown below. The photos or
descriptions will be updated April, August, and December when the winner is
announced.
Here are the previous winners:
2006 - A.s. 'Moonrise'TM
2007 - A. truncatum 'Dwarf Golden Dragon'
2008 - A.
truncatum 'Blaine's Dragon'.
2009 - A. p. 'Emerald Lace'
2010 - ???
2010 Maple Rookie of the Year:
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Welcome to the 2010 Maple Rookie of the Year Contest.
This year we have 11 candidates, many Japanese maple dwarfs, a cool small
tree from China, and 2 Shandong maples. All pictures were taken on
May 2, 2010. Note the different colors of green among the dwarfs
below.
This 6 year old Shantung maple is called 'Tiny Dragon' and is only a
few inches high and was planted in the ground last year. The small
leaves were thumbnail size last year and now with good soil and lots of
fertilizer the current year leaves are double the size but still only a little over an inch in
size. It remains to be seen whether any substantial growth will
occur now that it has ideal conditions. Very cool. 2nd QTR - Red
summer growth of over 2 inches and branching. Color changes to a
bronze but lasts a long time. Leaves now bigger than thumbnail
growing in great soil and irrigation, but leaves still relatively small.
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Shirazz Japanese maple is a patented cultivar from a large
grower in New Zealand and shows a great deal of variegation and
colors. Very good looking and I have not seen any reversion to
normal leaves. Very nice so far with a distinctive jade green color.
2nd QTR - Pink is gone but the interesting 2 tone jade green
remains. Handling the sun good.
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Acer oliverianum is a small maple from China that is much
like Acer palmatum except it is slower growing and very upright in
habit. New growth is orange and fall colors are supposed to be
great. Bark is a handsome bright green.
2nd QTR - Growing nicely through the heat. The best grower in
summer.
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This Shantung maple sat at my place for years and never grew
much. Now it is put into this bonsai pot and I have given it the
name 'Bonsai Dragon'. It also has small leaves and makes a bigger
trunk faster than my original dwarf I named 'Baby Dragon'.
2nd QTR - Hasn't changed much but living in 5 hours of sun in this tiny
pot with zero burn is impressive.
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Aocha nishiki is a bright green bark Japanese maple with
brilliant fall colors.
2nd QTR - Put out some orange-yellow summer growth and doing very well.
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Tiger Rose is a variegated maple with darker green veins and almost
a dissected leaf. There was some pink tones in early spring.
2nd QTR - Doesn't look as good and doesn't seem to like 2 hours of sum.
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Tatoo is a small leaf dwarf Japanese maple. It had
awesome spring colors and even has a touch of red along the margins six
weeks later.
2d QTR - Looks very nice green in the heat but no summer growth.
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Sekka yatsubusa is an upright, small leaf, dwarf Japanese
maple. It could win if it has some summer growth and great fall
colors.
2nd QTR - Getting some summer growth and it is taking some sun very
well.
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Koto maru leafed-out with nice colors and is now putting out
lots of bright orange new growth over dull green leaves. Exceptional so far. Very
small leaves on this one with lots of blunt tips on the middle lobe.
2nd QTR - All green now but is doing very well in a small pot.
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Komachi hime is a small leaf dwarf that had a great deal of
red edges in spring and now a bright shiny medium green.
2nd QTR - The brightest green of all of them in our hot summer.
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Kashima is another dwarf and is keeping a yellow-green
appearance all spring. A few of the leaves are yellow.
2nd QTR - Darker green now but is happy.
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| Results for 2009
Results for Rookie of the Year, As Follows: |
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ALL SPRING PICTURES TAKEN ON 4-12-09, EASTER SUNDAY after
an early morning rain, for the 2009 Maple Rookie of the Year contest.
Oto hime is a dwarf green Japanese maple that grows low and
dense. This one is a rooted cutting growing in a clay pot its second
year and is doing fine despite being uprooted last summer by an armadillo.
Not growing and had some mysterious leaf burn.
Got some pretty nice red fall color even after 2 hard freezes.
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A test Shantung maple that has not grown much in five years
and maybe it is a dwarf despite the regular size leaf. It was
originally selected because of its beautiful leaf shape and is now planted
in the ground. TARP Dragon was recently named after the
stimulus package but it stands for Targeted Acer Reduction Program.
I really would like to find a smaller growing Shantung maple.
Starting summer growth in several spots and looks very nice. All
the leaves have sharp points and teeth on the lobes. Excellent.
Grew too fast. I was wanting a semi-dwarf. Yellow fall
color with red veins was very nice.
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Hupp's Dwarf made it through last year's heat and now
will be put in the Maple Rookie of the Year program. It is not off
to a good start as it seems many buds are not opening.
Everyone I know that had one last year, and also mine, have buds that did
not open in spring. Getting some nice looking summer growth and a
bright dark green leaf.
Grows weird so far and it didn't turn fall colors before the freeze.
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This is Bart's strapleaf Japanese maple and was
discovered and sent to me from a friend in Washington state. It
looks good so far and the light green leaves are turning to a dark green.
A good looking plant into summer.
Performed very well. Did not see any funny looking leaf lobes
that most strap leaves produce for me. Fall colors red then frozen.
Second-Place Runner-Up.
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One of my hybrids from seeds collected in 2006 is a dwarf
I'll call KJ's #1. My hybridizing goal was to create a Mikawa
yatsubusa with some different colors. It started with red/orange
colors everywhere and now still has some orange color on the tips despite
suffering from several late freezes.
Despite a good growing location my dwarf is slow growing.
Turned red before the freeze, a plus. Slow growing but has
potential.
Third Runner-Up Award but has a lot of
potential as a colorful dwarf.
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A.s. Palmatifolium is new to me and you can see that
last year's grafts are all growing very well. It has a beaitufil
9-11 lobed leaf and should have excellent fall colors.
Good looking plant so far this year. Did great and had brilliant
fall colors of yellow with splashes of red. Colored-up early so it
receives the First Runner-Up Award.
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Pixie is a new Japanese maple that is a smaller
growing red upright that many people could use where space is
limited. I have some larger ones also, but shown is a new graft.
So far I cannot get this graft to put out much growth and it did not
hold its color very well.
Did OK. Fall colors were a very nice orange-red. This will
be a good one for a red leaf not growing more than 8 feet.
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Emerald Lace has much smaller, beautiful bright green
leaves
and a very cascading habit. It is supposed to be vigorous too.
It has a very soft texture from a distance.
First grafts are growing nicely.
Beautiful looking plants with vigorous first year growth and zero
burn. Leaves looked as fresh in fall as they did in spring.
Red fall colors were a little late. Overall it gets my Maple
Rookie of The Year vote.
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Ground Cover is a new Japanese maple with a small
,sharply-pointed leaf and is supposed to grow along the ground. I
have this one in a sunny spot.
Good growth and not burning in the hot sun.
Turned a mix of red and yellow well before any freeze but was not as
bright as expected, although young first year plants do not always produce
the best fall colors.
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| Results for 2008
Results for Rookie of the Year, As Follows: |
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Japanese maple Aoyagi is all green. The stems in
winter are bright green and the new leaves and stems are also bright
green. April update - neat all green spring color.
July update - seems easy to grow
Dec. update - very bright yellow fall color, turned with the species,
Acer palmatum.
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Japanese maple Aratama is a red leaf dwarf with smaller
leaves than Shaina and was the brightest red I saw on a spring trip to
Oregon in 1999.
April update - small leaves are nice red.
July update - all the red color is gone.
Dec. update - Very promising fall color of brilliant red and yellow.
4th Runner-Up Award.
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Acer pseudosieboldianum is a very cold tolerate maple from
Manchuria to Korea. This
rookie has beautiful leaves and multi-colored bark and very bright red and
orange fall colors.
April update - Growing very good. Nice green leaves and bark.
July update - Taking the hot sun very well and the bark is even nicer now.
Dec. update - Colored a bright yellow with some red at the usual time.
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Japanese maple Bishop is another red variety. Scott
ordered this one for me. I saw a large Bishop in Nacogdoches that
was growing well and had different growth characteristics than usual.
April update - A dull red color but growth is good.
July update - New growth is bright red with no burn. A good grower.
Dec/ update - Did not see fall color as the leaves burned-off early from
excessive fertilization but the tree is not damaged.
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Fairy Hair is a dwarf strap-leaf Japanese maple that is very
small and slow growing. Very cool but probably only for collectors. April update - The small thin leaves grew bigger than photo shows.
July update - Nice looking and the very thin leaves withstood all the
wind.
Dec. update - Very bright orange fall color but you need a magnifying glass to see it. Fairy Hair took the heat very well.
3rd Runner-Up Award.
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Japanese maple Fjellheim is a dwarf coral bark maple
discovered as a witches broom off of Sango Kaku. It is supposed to
have colors just as good but also have short, tight growth.
April update - Not anything spectacular yet.
July update - New graft is not doing much at all.
Dec. update - Did not get any summer growth so Fjelheim is too small
for this contest.
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Goshiki kotohime is a small leaf upright dwarf with densely
packed leaves and an
interesting structure. This is a very old plant I purchased from a
grower in Oregon. April update - Neat growth habit and cardinal birds like to nest in
it.
July update - Seems to lose leaves for unknown reason (heat?) but also
grows.
Dec. update - Colors up late like most dwarfs and had some growing
problems either from a fungus that came with the tree or from trying to
adapt to the hot shade in Texas.
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Japanese maple Moonfire used to be sold at Metro Maples but
was discontinued because fall colors were a dissapointment. However,
it might be possible that my first Moonfires were not the right plants
so I am trying it again from another source. April update - Doing very well with nice red color.
July update - Holding color very well in the heat.
Dec. update - Moonfire did good but is not better than Fireglow, at
least in its first year with me.
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Ogon Sarassa is a large leaf Japanese maple with nice red
spring colors, green bark, and yellow-green seeds. Fall colors could be
bright mixes of yellow, orange, and red.
April update - Nice red on large leaf but hail damage tore it.
July update - Mostly green now with some muted red tones.
Dec. update - Did very well and I know fall colors are going to be
good, but this year it was mostly yellow and very little oranges and reds.
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Osakasuki Akame is a slight variation of the Osakasuki that
I have been growing for years and like really well.
April update - Not as good spring color as the Osakasuki I've grown for
years.
July update - Strong plant and no wind or sun damage.
Dec. update - Did very well even with some west sun and wind but fall
colors did not get as good as the Osakasuki that I grow and sell.
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Sister Ghost is a new Japanese maple that has come out only
recently. It has interesting colors and veins and many sharp teeth on the
leaves. I grafted this one from a plant I found in Tyler, Texas. April update - Great sharp teeth on leaf lobes and color. Good
growth too.
July update - Lost most spring leaves for unknown reason (wind?) but it is
regrowing very nicely.
Dec. update - Did great but the 2-gallon tree did not have a
knock-your-socks-off yellow fall color.
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Acer sieboldianum 'Sode-no-uchi' has the smallest leaves of any
form of this species. It is a maple from Japan but not usually
referred to as a Japanese maple. The leaves have nine lobes and is expected to be easy to grow and
cold hardy. This is a popular bonsai plant in Japan which makes a tight
shape without much pruning. April update - Great looking leaf, color, and growth habit.
July update - Still a great looking small tree.
Dec. update - I like this one a lot and fall colors were a respectalbe
mix of yellow with some red, but it did not color-up fully due to a
November freeze.
2nd Runner-Up Award.
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Stella Rosa is a red lace-leaf that I first saw in a nursery
in Italy. I was looking at maples late in the season and Stella Rosa
appeared to have kept a much better than average red color through their
hot summer. Another reason that this rookie is the frontrunner is
that 2 of my favorite cultivars, Fireglow and Orange
Dream, have come out of this same Italian maple nursery.
April update - Very nice red color for a laceleaf. Nicest rookie
so far.
July update - Color not as intense and seems to have a little trouble with
the horrible Texas weather.
Dec. update - Did OK in my heat but fall colors were not anything to
write about but it was its first year in Texas and it was the fifth
hottest summer ever.
First Runner-Up Award.
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Tiger Rose is perhaps a reticulated Japanese maple but I'll
have to wait until this one grows from my graft since I can't find any
information about this rare cultivar. I grafted this one from a
plant I found in Tyler, Texas.
April update - NIce plant so far.
July update - New graft is not growing much.
Dec. update - My graft of Tiger Rose did not grow much so I will need
more time to evaluate.
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When I discover a seedling it must be at least 2 years old
before it can be judged for the Rookie of the Year Award. Here is
Blaine's Dragon, now starting it's 3rd year, which is a Shantung maple
that has a great leaf and has been red in the fall both previous years.
April update - Great leaf and vigorous growth and some nice spring colors.
July update - Growing like a weed! Great Shantung leaf shape and
good color considering it has been very hot. Easily the best 2nd
quarter rookie.
Dec. update - Best grower of the rookies by a large margin (of course
it is a Shantung maple so this is to be expected.) but I pushed it too
hard to get massive growth and then most of the leaves fell-off before
fall color. The few leaves that remained did turn a purplish-red
though. So it has been red all 3 years of its life. Overall in
this very hot and dry year I am pleased so it is given the Rookie of
the Year Award for 2008.
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Acer pseudo sieboldianum ssp. takesimense is very rare and
mine is from a small island called Ullung-do in the East China Sea close
to Korea. April update - Nice leaf and holding-up well in full sun and wind.
July update - Dug-up and moved to shade it now is growing in July so it
looks like a good one. Tied with Moonfire for 2nd in the 2nd
quarter.
Dec. update - Survived the heat and being dug-up and moved when the gas
pipeline exposed it to high winds. Freeze might have prevented any
fall color.
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