AusBonsai

Hi all,

So far all green Japanese maples i've worked on have been general nursery stock grown as a 'wild type' most likely from seed. As such, none really have all the desired characteristics of the classic green maple that i'm looking for.

Essentially, I want a specific cultivar (available in Aus of course), that satisfies all, or as many of these criteria as possible, listed in order of importance. I have tried to include a photo highlighting each characteristic.

-Smaller but light lime green coloured leaves in Spring, strong green in Summer. Attached is a photo of a famous maple from the Omiya bonsai village showing this. (Photos 1 and 2)
-Red new stems! All my green maples so far have green/non-descript colour stems and I feel like i'm missing out! (3rd photo)
-Strong vigorous grower, essentially able to grow into larger trees (thick trunks) if required.
-Bark that develops smooth, but not flakey (4th photo - From Ebihara's collection)
-Redder autumn colour is preferred over oranges, but this is more subjective than the rest of the criteria.

Any direction, or help would be greatly appreciated. Lets see what the great minds of AusBonsai can conjure up!

Small lime green Leaves Red stems Smooth bark

The palmatum subgroup of A. palmatum are the ones with smaller leaves. The green leaved section of those includes:
Ao yagi; Ara Kawa; Beni kawa; Eddisbury; Hanama nishiki; Ibo nishiki; Issai nishiki kawazu; Kio hime; kogane nishiki; Koko; Mama; Mon zukushi; Murasaki kiyo hime; Nishiki gawa; Okoshimo; Rising sun; Sango kaku; Seiun kaku; Sekka yatsubusa; Shishigashira; Tama hime; Tana; Tsuchi gumo; Volubile; Wabito; Waka midori; Waka momiji.
All the ones with nishiki as part of the name are rough barked trees so probably not what you are after. Sekka yatsubusa has distorted, flattened twigs so I don't think it would be good for bonsai and I have not seen it offered in Aust anyway.

Ao yagi - Leaves 5 lobed bright green turning yellow in autumn. bark glistening fresh green. name means green willow.
Okoshimo - leaves 5 or 7 lobed each lobe ending in a tapering point autumn colour may be very nice but not always so.
Sango Kaku is readily available. Also known as Coral bark maple the younger stems turn bright red in winter. Autumn colour is yellow/gold rather than red. Older bark tends to be rougher rather than smooth.
Shishigashira is also available in Australia. Also known as Lions head maple. It has nice green leaves but they are typically distorted and the trees is usually quite small and slow growing.

yamina Rare plants http://www.yaminarareplants.com.au/imag ... t-2014.pdf lists all 4 above as available.
Maples x mail http://www.maplesxmail.com.au/products.asp?cat=11 lists Ao yagi as available. Leaves 5 lobed bright green turning yellow in autumn. bark glistening fresh green. name means green willow.

Not sure whether any of the others are available in Aust.

There is a couple more subgroups of A. palmatum - Amoenum and Matsumurae that have green leaved varieties but they have larger leaves.

Wow, thanks for the impressive and detailed post Shibui. May I ask where you received all this information and listing from?

With regards to the 4 your mentioned:
Aoyagi - has green stems, petioles ect. I was looking more for a red terminal stem colour.
Okoshimo - I just feel it's leaf structure isn't the greatest for bonsai, and I'm not the biggest fan of it's aesthetic. Good suggestion though.
Sango Kaku - I'm well aware of this cultivar, great trees. Nice leaves and stem colour. Trunks are redder instead of grey/whitish though. I already have one of these growing that I have future plans for.
Shishigashira - the curved feathery leaves are really unique and make for a very interesting tree, but it's just not quite what i'm looking for currently.

Am I sh!t out of luck here? I feel I am being super picky to a fault.

Here's a page dedicated to the maple I posted earlier, from the Omiya bonsai village. It doesn't give any cultivar information, which leads me to believe it's either a 'mountain maple' or wild type also?
http://www.bonsai-art-museum.jp/en/collection/a-087/

Shibui, I have done a bit more research. I think the photo I have posted of the green bonsai from the Omiya bonsai village looks the most similar/has the same characteristics of the Yatsubusa family. Wether it's the 'Mikawa Yatsubusa' or the 'Shishi Yatsubusa', I can't tell. What you do think?

I believe that 'yatsubusa' translates as 'many buds'. All the yatsubusa vars that I am aware of are dwarf plants because they have so many buds they don't grow big. It usually also means they are slow growing. You have specified a strong vigorous grower.

The info above is from Maples for gardens by J. D. Vertrees

I noted that Bodhi posted a Mikawa yatsubusa today viewtopic.php?f=12&t=20270
If you think dawrf vars might be ok have a look at 'Kashima'. Maples x mail lists it her in Aus. It was originally a Japanese selection but growth is noted as 'slow'

Truth wrote:Small lime green Leaves

Omiya bonsai village copy.jpg

Oh wow. I would recoginise that tree anywhere.
Omiya Bonsai Museum.
Here is a picture of one of my kids standing in front of it.

wrcmad wrote:

Truth wrote:Small lime green Leaves

Omiya bonsai village copy.jpg

Oh wow. I would recoginise that tree anywhere.
Omiya Bonsai Museum.
Here is a picture of one of my kids standing in front of it.

omiya museum.jpg

That's the one! Fantastic example of a Japanese Maple bonsai

Hey Truth,

You should give Ray Nesci a visit. He should have some new maples in stock and you could ask him what you are looking for.
Haven't been to his nursery just over 3 months, but he does have alot of maples and depending on the time of year whether he has stock or not