 |
| Feb
14, 2008 - Start of a new year. Click on the link above or at
the bottom to see 2007 Maples on the Move. Left to right - After 53 years I finally find an owl's
nest. Unfortunately this owl lives in one of my oaks next to the
proposed XTO pipeline bore pit and is in danger. If someone can
identify this beautiful bird please call or send an e-mail. Center -
Here is my title page for the presentation that I am giving to
close-out the national American Rhododendron Society convention in
Tulsa, OK on April 16-20. Right - Lendonwood Gardens, Grove, OK is one
of the gardens in the convention tours. |
 |
| March
1, 2008 - Finished grafting about 4,000 trees, Goshiki kotohime is a
small leaf dwarf in the new garden, the shape of Fire Dragon maple
after 9 years. |
 |
| March
8, 2008 - Katsura is beautiful but leafs-out early but was not damaged
from the 24 degree low temperature, my Japanese maple
hybrid #5 is starting to grow in the greenhouse, and covering maples
from the cold. |
 |
| March
9, 2008 - Here is my Shantung test plant that hopefully has leaves
that stay yellow, my Japanese maple hybrid #7, a new Japanese maple
called the Bishop that Scott, my first employee, ordered for me.
He has one also and we are having a contest to see who can grow it the
fastest. Mine is starting growth early in the greenhouse while
Scott's is just sittin' there. |
 |
| March
18, 2008 - Spring is here. Left, 15 gal to 25 gal maples are
growing real good, Butterfly is a dainty pink as it unfolds over the
pond, yellow and red Japanese maples now showing-off, plus some
azaleas too. |
 |
| March
19, 2008 - Left - Orange Dream, middle - Higasayama has more pink this
year, right -
Deshojo. All nice spring color maples. |
 |
| March
22, 2008 - Ezo nishiki is an early Satsuki azalea with lots of shibori
(stripes), Green Filigree is being re-tested in the new garden and
notice the fine variegation in the finely dissected leaves, Koto no
Ito is a good grower with very narrow leaves, a bushy habit, and
excellent fall color. |
 |
| March
23, 2008 - Beni Schichihenge has bright orangish-pink but reverts to
solid green limbs in our climate, Higasayama now is even better with
the dark green mid-veins, Peaches 'n Cream in the new garden shows
more bright red than I've ever seen. |
 |
| March
24, 2008 - Sumi nagashi is a neat, fast growing, tall and tight
growing red-leaf with green bark that is always loaded with blooms and then
bright red seeds, Aka shigitatsu sawa has interesting reticulated
leaves and different colors, Boskoop Glory is very bright this year
and right now is not the wine-red color that it gets. |
 |
| March
25, 2008 - Some coral bark maples still have red stems while others
have already lost some color, Red Emperors are looking exceptionally
good this year and growing great, Shin deshojo is a bright spring red
shown with an out-of-focus Orange Dream in the background. |
 |
| March
26,2008 - Orangeola with a natural shape, new garden by front parking
lot is looking good and features maples and rhododendrons, the area in
front of the Display Garden has been expanded with pot-in-pot maples
that can be changed-out according to the season. |
 |
| March
27, 2008 - This Orangeola was shaped with bamboo and pruners and is 7
feet tall, many azaleas are blooming now, and rhododendron City Park
blooms with 2 Mikawa yatsubusa in the background. This dwarf
rhododendron is a R. hyperythrum hybrid and is very heat
tolerant. It is growing on a sunny south slope in Tsuki
Gardens. I've grown this one 14 years. |
 |
| March
28, 2008 - Shantung maples are blooming, Crimson Queen is framed by
yellow leaves, and Nuresagi, translated means Wet Heron, is another
very good red upright, shown with Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium', also
called Dancing Peacock, is an excellent green Japanese maple. |
 |
| March
30, 2008 - One of the greatest forces on earth is the power of our large forest trees unfolding in spring,
and is
unmatched by thousands of Hoover Dams, Deshojo, in Bonsai training,
was cut-back very hard 4 weeks ago and now you can notice dozens of
new bright red buds opening, Inaba Shidare on left contrasts with
azalea Boldface and dissectum Flavescens in the Display Garden. |
 |
| March
31, 2008 - Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' is also called Dancing
Peacock, A. s. 'Moonrise'TM,
and Acer sieboldianum 'Sode-no-uchi' is a small leaf maple with
9 to 11 lobes and is popular for bonsai in Japan. These 3 maples
are available at Metro Maples. See Catalog for prices. |
 |
| April
1, 2008 - Underneath a Paperbark maple is azalea Tradition in full
bloom, first grafts of Shantung test plant 'Dwarf Golden Dragon' is
out of the greenhouse and planted in Tsuki Gardens and is growing much
faster than the mother plant ever did so maybe it is not a dwarf after
all, Ward's Ruby is the deepest red azalea you're likely to ever
see. It is at the entrance to the garden. |
 |
| April
2, 2008 - What does Keith grow under his Fire Dragon Shantung
maple? Left is a Murasaki kiyohime, center is a Shaina, and
right is one of the many Japanese azaleas. The azaleas you'll
see locally are nice, but the Japanese have been working hard
selecting azaleas for over 300 years. |
 |
| April
4, 2008 - Entrance to new garden, a bird nest inside a Goshiki
kotohime, and yellow rhododendrons have been difficult in hot climates
but I am trying this one called Capistrano. |
 |
| April
8, 2008 - Here is my Bishop with a rally banner to lead it to victory
in the growing contest with Scott Hubble. Deshojo, pruned hard
at the beginning of March is putting out bright red new growth
everywhere, and my Chinese Snowball Viburnum in bloom. |
 |
| April
11, 2008 - Fireglow in the Display garden, getting some color
from my hybrids but the next step is to cross them to each other to
get all the possible genetic combinations of both parents, Acer
negundo is native to Fort Worth along drainage ditches and streams but
this cultivar is called Kelley's Gold. |
 |
| April
13, 2008 Usually a maple sits on my table but now I am using an azalea
Kogetsu no homare, I got 3 bird eggs in the Goshiki kotohime, close-up
of the reds changing to greens on Beni komachi. |
 |
| April
20, 2008 - The National Rhododendron Convention that I was hosting is
over and was a big success. Here is a Rhododendron called
Lendonwood, azaleas are also rhododendrons and they did not suffer
like many of the Tulsa trees from the huge December ice storm, and an
azalea with red tulips and yellow pansies on the convention tour. |
 |
| April
22, 2008 - Deshojo that was pruned hard is now growing very fast,
bird's are hatching now, here is rhododendron 'Black Eye' in it's
second year in Texas. |
 |
| April
23, 2008 - A big hail storm 6 days ago is now showing-up as stratches
on Red Emperor, Shantung maple with very little hail damage, and
Suminagashi took the hail better than any other red upright. |
 |
| April
24, 2008 - Shaina looks good but will be even better as bright red
new growth appears in May, Satsuki azaleas are just starting to
bloom, and so far this Stella Rosa laceleaf is leading the pack in the
Maple Rookie of the Year contest. |
 |
| April
30, 2008 - Here's the Bishop again, hail damaged and not growing new
shouts but it is sunning and filling-up the clay pot with roots
getting ready for summer growth. I used blood and bone meal,
expanded shale, some colloidal clay to hold nutrients, Texas green
sand, Tennessee potassium, mollasses, chunky peat and sifted aged pine
bark, some slow release 21-7-12 and Superthrive in this plant to try
and win the growing contest with Hubble. Oh, I also save rain
water for it. Good luck Hubble you're going to need it.
Center - Butterfly is now creamy-white and spectacular this
year. Right - Blaine's Dragon is a test plant Shantung maple and
has very nice new growth colors and is a leading candidate for Maple
Rookie of the Year. |
 |
| May
1, 2008 - Satsuki azalea Tama no Hada with a 5 inch bloom. My
2007 hybrid #7 is still colorful. Dwarf Golden Dragon (name will
be changed when I introduce this tree), is a discovery I found of a
Shantung maple with really nice spring and summer colors. Here
it is being tested in the hot Texas sun. Compare the colors of
this Shantung test plant to one of the brightest Japanese Maples,
shown below, called MoonriseTM. |
 |
| May
2, 2008 - Nishiki Gawa shape after 12 years and it also has very
interesting bark and fall colors, Coonora Pygmy is all green in early
spring then has pink colors in May if given some sun, and Acer
shirasawanum MoonriseTM is looking
bright in the new garden. |
 |
| May
5, 2008 - Close-up of the Bishop showing hail damage but new red
growth emerging, center - Scott and I moved this 30 foot Autumn Blaze
maple in the middle of last January because it was encroaching on the
mother Fire Dragon® Shantung
and now it is growing fine. We
learned that the root system on Autumn Blaze maple is fairly
shallow and wide spreading but overall it was not too
aggressive. Right - Still a good time to plant and we are now
potting all the new grafts done last February into 1 gallon
pots. The bright yellow of Orange Dream is shown. |
Click
to see pictures of Maples on the Move 2007 |
