on the maples; Japanese maple is a mountain plant, and though it will grow in shade, preffers what I cal protected sun. Vine maple is an understory plant that is perfectly happy in full shade, though will do well in part and protected sun, and tends to sulk in full sun in hot weather (though with irrigation even then will do ok). Of the two, I suspect that the vine maple culturally is generally the better choice.

Also, on the Vine Maple, be aware that the natural stem color on Vine Maple can range from the 'Pacific Fire' on the red end, to bright chrome yellow on the other end, with lots of rather dull greyish greenish brown in the middle, lol. Like with red-osier dogwoods, the stem color is mostly on the new twig growth, but it seems to hold on longer on younger plants than it does on the dogwoods. The yellower twigged ones I have salvaged (and to my knowledge, no one has selected a clone of this type and named it, mores the pity) seem to need a little more sun to develop a good strong yellow color, so if you find one you may want to put it in a slightly sunnier spot than the red barked varieties, which don't seem to need that quite so much.

There are other varieties of vine maple you might also want ot check out for leaf color- some of hte 'apricot' selections for spring color are supposed to have bright orange to yellow fall color, even in some shade. You loose some of hte redder tones with these apparently, but in shade the yellow and orange will stand out more anyway. There is also the cut leaf variety 'Monroe', if you want something completely different in leaf shape.

On pruning; Vine Maple are prunable, but they are also finicky about it. I haven't seen this to be the case as much with Japs, but with Vines, if you prune too hard, the Vineys will respond by throwing a witches broom of tangles of new sprouts where you just pruned. This can totally detroy the natural graceful charm of the plant. To avoid this, NEVER prune a vine maple more than 30% of its mass at once, and even better if you can stretch out your pruning over months and slowly head back the tree to where you want it. SO, if you are looking for a single trunked specimen (and if it is a Viney, why? To my mind, the natural charm of the plant is in its graceful arching spread of multiple branches... a single trunked tree is far less interesting to me), gradually prune it up once the tree is established to the height you want it. In the mean time, till you are ready to trim out the lower branches, you can tip prune the branches you don't want, which will tend to get the tree to put more of its energy into the untipped branches. By tipping, I mean simply with your fingers or a pair of scissors, nip the growing tip just beyond the last set of new leaves. You will get a bonsai like densely twiggy growth on those branches, but you will be cutting those off by the next year, so don't worry overmuch how it looks.

Another native maple you may want to consider is the Douglas Maple (Acer glabrum douglasii). It is a species of dryer places than the Vineys, prefers a little more light but will take part shade easily enough. Its habit is more shrubby than either the viney or the Japs, but of more or less the same size. It also tends to have beautiful bright mahoganny to red new growth like the coral barks but darker. Again you could train it to a more standard tree if you wish. Its branching is more upright than either the vineys or Jap maples, so it would make a good contrast in shape to the viney if you want to pair them. The leaves on some, especially as young trees, may be trifoliate, which is also kind of cool. These can be difficult to find even at native plant nurseries, but are well worth the effort to get. It is a beautiful tree that doesn't get nearly enough garden space.

Lisa recommended nine bark, and I must say this is one of my favorite ways to use the native Pacific Nine-bark (Physocarpus capitata). Its not as flashy as the hybrids and the purple leaf cultivars of hte eastern nine-barks, but the native has a similar stripey flaky bark that, when limbed up, is absolutely gorgeous. I have seen it in a garden trained up to arch over a bench, where you are kind of embraced by that beautiful cinnaman bark, and it was really quite beautiful. Nine bark is a riparian plant of moist forest, it does well in part to full shade, so your conditions sound perfect for it. The one thing is this IS a shrub, not a tree, and especially as a young to middle aged "tree" may get top heavy, so if you can plan a nice sturdy support (like one of those rebar supports bent into a crook at the height you want it) that might be the best way to train it.

Red-osier dogwoods (Cornus sericea) can also be trained into a tree form. Most gardeners think of it as a shrub that is cut back to generate the new growth with all the color, but you can take the same shrub and limb it up, support it like I mentioned with the ninebark, and get a spectacular small tree. That bright twig color is more subtle this way, but you can certainly see it just fine. And these are one of the more reliable performers for fall color in shady areas I know of, so its a good choice on that score as well. Red-osier is also one of the few natives that has had some fairly extensive selecting going on- aside from the natural populations of yellow twig (C. sericea flaviramea), there is the super dwarf 'Kelsyi', gold leaved 'Hedgerow's Gold' and a few others out there worth looking for. In the woods above my house there is a red-osier with a trunk about six inches across that reaches up almost twenty feet, so these can be fairly good sized specimens if treated right. Even the "normal" garnet maroon red to olive green winter twig color of the natives around here I find beautiful in the woodlands of late winter.

Now if you want other natives with winter twig color, we can talk shorter shrubs, too, lol.

I have a small Coppertina Ninebark I'm trying to figure out where to plant. They always seem to get mildew by late summer in my area. I had it in a container in morning sun, afternoon sun, next to a garage last year and it got mildew again. Anyone else seen this problem? I'd like to plant it in part shade because I don't have many full sun spots left, but I'm trying to decide if I'm willing to see it get mildew every year. I wouldn't put it in as prominent a place if I know it gets mildew every year. And if you're planting it between two houses, the air circulation would make it prone to mildew, too.
Large shrubs trained into a tree shape are a great thing for homeowners who need a small tree. They are pretty easy to find, too. We sell lots of Dappled willow trees at our nursery. Not to discourage you too much with all this talk of diseases, but I've seen them get a willow twig tieback disease if they are in too much shade.

I also suggest adding a layer of mulch two to four inches deep. Be sure the mulch is not touching the trunk of your maple or it will rot. Water your maple every other day for a week until it is established.Dig a hole about twice the size of the root ball. For a vigorous healthy maple amend your soil with organic matter and incorporate a slow release fertilizer. Bury the root-ball to where the old soil line is. Water in wel.Last but not least in plants, Fulvic stimulates metabolism, provides respiration, increases metabolism of proteins and activity of multiple enzymes, enhances the permeability of cell membranes, cell division and elongation, aids chlorophyll synthesis, drought tolerance, crop yields, buffers soil pH, assists denitrification by microbes, contributes to electrochemical balance as a donor or an acceptor, decomposes silica to release essential mineral nutrients, detoxifies pollutants such as pesticides and herbicides.


Edited by smithgerry - Jun-23-2010 at 2:19am