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
2007 - A. truncatum Dwarf Golden Dragon
2008 - ???
2008 Rookie of the Year Candidates:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Fairy Hair is a dwarf strap-leaf Japanese maple that is very
small and slow growing.
April update - The small thin leaves grew bigger than photo shows.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 spring colors.
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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.
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