"Waterfall" Japanese maple? I'll be dammed!

Another example of bad pruning in a Toronto garden

I don't maintain lawns so my clients either pay for another company to cut, fertilize and spray herbicides on their turf, do it themselves or simply don't have grass. Landscape maintenance companies also get involved with pruning and I'm sure you've seen many examples of meatballs as "foundation plantings" where you live. (I like the term "landscape management" better because it more accurately reflects the business philosophy of looking after a large block of clients with big areas of turf on their properties). "Meatballs" are especially popular around commercial establishments like gas stations and coffee shops, as profiled in another post titled "Trust Me: I'm a Professional Landscaper When did yews become checker pieces?"

I felt compelled; however, to show you a recent example of a questionable, to be extremely charitable, pruning job at one of my client's front garden. I did not do this!

Acer palmatum "Waterfall" Japanese maple
without the waterfall

To give you some context, this weeping-form  Japanese maple is normally a wonderful lace-leaf green variety that is called at times "Waterfall" or "Viridis." The specimen above didn't invoke images of water tumbling over anything. To be honest, I see a somewhat flattened green macaroon.

Although it did make me weep a little.

Here's the view from the front porch looking down. Tell me what you see! It will be kind of like a horticultural Rorschach test.

Kind of cool how this green disc seems to be hovering!

Bad pruning example of
a "Waterfall"  Japanese maple

What to make of all this? I don't have an axe to grind with these "mow-blow-go" guys (and it's almost always men who wield the gas-powered clippers) who can't/don't/won't distinguish between a shrub versus a small tree (!) They don't have an incentive to prune properly because, likely, their pay reflects being a "labourer" and they have to haul their butts to the next job site (or to grab a coffee or a smoke, etc.)

You really do get what you pay for in life, though, and if/when a potential client states that "you're too expensive" or variations of "you want me to pay you what to pull a few weeds?!", I'll send them this blog link to perhaps enlighten and illuminate the true cost of things.

By the way, this is what a "Waterfall" Japanese maple, in the fall, should look like, unbutchered:

Laceleaf Japanese maple
(Acer palmatum dissectum "Viridis")  autumn foliage 

A great reminder that autumn is around the corner. I hope you had a wonderful summer and thank you for continuing to read "garden muses", the dozen of you guys and gals out there!

Falling for Japanese maples in the fall

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's Japanese maples

While there isn't a horticultural version of the Ten Commandments (that I'm aware of), more than a few gardeners every late autumn across Toronto feel pangs of envy and covetousness while peering at another's Japanese maple.

Well, I do.

(On a side note, I've heard reports of specimen Japanese maples stolen from front gardens (and a cemetery!) in our fair city. Obviously, a different Commandment is being broken here.)

You likely walk past more than a few small landscape trees  on your way to work or the store, not really giving much thought to the dark red (wine?) or green leaves. Then, starting in late October for us, it seems that these maples flip a switch and start glowing.

Acer palmatum "Mikawa Yatsubusa" 
Japanese maple autumn foliage 
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

It's mid November now and the Japanese maple show is starting to wind down a little but I was able to capture these photos over the past few weeks showing some unusual Acer palmatum cultivars showing their fall finery at the Toronto Botanical Garden.

I've had mixed success with Japanese maples in my backyard as I've lost two to verticillum wilt: a very nice and expensive "Seiryu" and a very nice and expensive "Osakazuki" (you see the pertinent adjectives?) Of course the Viburnum plicatum Japanese snowballs are growing madly so these spots have been filled nicely.

Acer palmatum "Coonara Pygmy"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum "Crimson Queen"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
 at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Acer palmatum var. dissectum "Waterfall"
 laceleaf Japanese maple autumn foliage

Acer palmatum "Kagiri Nishiki"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Acer palmatum "Kamagata"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
 at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Acer palmatum "Kiyo-hime"
  Japanese maple fall foliage
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum "Kiyo-hime"
  Japanese maple fall foliage detail
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum "Linearlobum"
Japanese maple fall foliage
 at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum "Mikawa Yatsubusa"
 Japanese maple autumn foliage
 at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum "Mikawa Yatsubusa"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
at theToronto Botanical Garden

Acer palmatum "Osakazuki"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
 at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Acer palmatum "Trompenburg"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum var. dissectum "Green Hornet"
 Japanese maple fall foliage
at the Toronto Botanical Garden 

Acer palmatum var. dissectum "Waterfall"
 Japanese maple foliage 

Fall foliage of Acer palmatum 
"Linearlobum"Japanese maple
 at the Toronto Botanical Garden

Laceleaf Japanese maple
 (Acer palmatum var. dissectum "Waterfall")
 autumn foliage on display at a client's garden

Oh, by the way, my neighbours don't have a Japanese maple but rather a plastic lawn (artificial turf) installed. No coveting here...

The fleeting beauty of autumn Japanese maples

Some Acer palmatum cultivars I love (there are so many!)

Lovers of Japanese maples notice when the foliage just switches in autumn to almost electric colours: crimson, scarlet, gold, and tangerine, among others. The fall foliage doesn't last too long before strong November winds here in zone 5/6 Toronto strip them off branches.

Acer palmatum  "Bloodgood" is the most commonly found cultivar in many gardens, almost to the point of being overused. When you see dozens of 3 or 5 gallon containers of these plants stranded at big box stores, half-dead by August, you kind of weep. (But some deals were amazing.)

I'm still busy with fall garden work so I took the following pictures to, at and from work. I'll try to add more but it's getting very late in the season!

Acer palmatum "Bloodgood" Japanese maple's autumn colour 

Acer palmatum "Bloodgood" Japanese maple
 autumn leaves against a brilliant blue sky 

Acer palmatum "Butterfly" Japanese maple's autumn colour. 

Notice the variegated margin which is much more pronounced 

in the spring when the new foliage emerges. 

I planted this specimen in my sister's garden (what a good brother I am!)

Acer palmatum Crimson Queen Japanese maple's autumn colour.
This maple is located at the perimeter of  my client's rain garden.

Acer palmatum "Seiryu" Japanese maple's autumn colour.
I have two Seiryus in my backyard and recommend that you have at least one!

Acer palmatum "Shishigashira" ("Lion's Head") Japanese maple's autumn colour. 

Acer palmatum "Shishigashira" ("Lion's Head")Japanese maple's autumn leaf colour.
The curly leaves are quite unusual!

By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"

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