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Metro Maples - Shantung Maple Cultivars
Sorry, none of these are available for sale yet.
Here are some pictures from my selection program in a
effort to
introduce many more Shantung Maple cultivars:
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Golden Dragon is a cultivar I have selected because of
its very nice leaf shape and brilliant deep yellow fall color. It was
selected for naming because it had the highest percentage of
matching, beautifully shaped leaves. Shantung maples are
polymorphic, meaning they will have slightly different leaf shapes on
the same tree, but this cultivar has a very stable leaf shape. It
makes an excellent companion tree to my Fire Dragon®
Shantung. Golden Dragon was selected out of a group of 100 other
similiar trees. Nearly all Shantungs have yellow fall color but
this is the one I have chosen to propagate. |
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Skinny Dragon has very narrow leaf lobes
giving it a distinctively finer texture. Some botanist describe
the leaf shape as a dissectum, or cut-leaf. So far the spring and
fall colors have been very exciting. Fall colors are usually a
deep golden yellow
but I have also seen some that are bright pinkish-orange. A very
cool tree. |
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Dwarf Golden Dragon is a 2007 selection that
has the ability to keep this beautiful yellow leaf color throughout the
summer. Summer growth is orange to red-orange to pink-orange
depending on the temperatures while the older leaves are yellow with
almost white veins.. So far it does not burn from the hot sun as do all other yellow-leaf trees I have
tested in Texas. Growth is at least fifty percent slower than
other Shantungs.
Pictured in 1 o'clock sun on June 25, 2009. Temperature 101
degrees
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Blaine's Dragon was named after my daughter
because it was discovered when she was working with me in the summer of
2006 after she graduated with a molecular biology degree from Pomona
College and before she started working at Southwest Medical Center in
Dallas. It has about the nicest looking Shantung maple
leaves that I have ever seen and excellent spring color of red and very
bright green.
So far it is the only other Shantung maple besides Fire Dragon that
has a consistent red fall color in my hot climate. |
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Baby Dragon was found in the first group of
Shantung maples I grew, way back in 1994. It turned out to be a
true dwarf. This picture was taken in 2007 when it was 14 years old. It has
a very tiny leaf, a thin willow-like habit, and is only 4 feet tall and
wide. It never stops putting out colorful summer growth, yet
remains very small. It also wants to start growing early in the
spring like a lot of dwarfs tend to do but has never been damaged much
from a
late freeze. |
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Witches Dragon is under review because of the
interesting leaf shape. It has an unique leaf base attachment which
makes the lobes hang down, or look droopey. Fall colors have been a
brilliant orange, or multi-colors of yellow, orange, and red. |
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Tiny Dragon is 6 years old in 2010 and
less than a foot tall. It was planted in the ground in 2009 and the
thumbnail size leaves are now 1 inch size under ideal growing
conditions. I don't know yet if it will grow faster now that it is
in the ground but I will let you know soon. |
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A variegated Shantung maple has been watched
since 2007 and now is planted in the ground to do more testing. |
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Doric Dragon has a columnar growth habit.
After 10 years it is 25 feet tall, but only 8 feet wide and so far has
mostly yellow fall color. It should be a much better and longer
lived tree than the Lombardy poplars that are over-planted and
short-lived. Fall colors are a bright yellow with some reds mixed in
some times and summer growth can be a dark red.
Besides Fire Dragon®
that I introduced in 2006, the above Shantung maples are some of the
better discoveries I have made in the last 15 years. These were
found from among the 12,000 Shantung maples that I have grown.
Back
to More Maples. |
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