The magical allure of a Japanese maple and a cryptomeria
When I was a child, I believed in fairies, leprechauns, and other magical creatures. Now I鈥檓 all grown up, and in spite of knowing better, I still believe in my heart of hearts that fairies exist.
So imagine my delight when I came face to face with the proof I鈥檇 been seeking for decades. I was visiting Buchholz聽 & Buchholz, a wholesale nursery offering unusual trees and shrubs in Gaston, Ore., and came upon 鈥� (Acer palmatum 鈥楩airy Hair鈥�). See first photo above.
This dwarf tree grows slowly, measuring about 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide in 10 years. But it鈥檚 not just the tiny size that makes this collector鈥檚 item delightful. It鈥檚 the long, skinny, straplike that give the plant a super-fine, almost blurry landscape texture.
The company鈥檚 online catalog describes the foliage as green in summer, orange in fall, but when I saw some 鈥楩airy Hair鈥� maples growing at the nursery during an unusually hot August, they were already turning their autumnal hue.
Talon Buchholz (photo No. 2 above), the nursery鈥檚 owner, discovered and introduced the plant, which grows best in sun to partial shade in well-drained soil. As for hardiness, he says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 really shocking. I鈥檝e got them planted all over and have never lost one. It鈥檚 like it鈥檚 too wimpy to die.鈥�
The website says that 鈥楩airy Hair鈥� is hardy to Zone 5.
To show off rare finds like Cryptomeria japonica 鈥楻asen' [see photo at right], an irregular conifer with tightly recurved foliage that grows up to 20 feet high, Mr. Buchholz created display gardens throughout the nursery. Along with the gardens, named the Flora Wonder Arboretum, he put together a fascinating .
鈥淭he arboretum is the top of what I have,鈥� says the nurseryman, who started collecting trees in 1981. 鈥淭he nursery makes money to keep the arboretum going and to keep adding new plants.鈥�
Don鈥檛 expect the website to mirror what the nursery sells. 鈥淭he arboretum鈥檚 website has photos of plants that I鈥檝e seen. Maybe I have them in the arboretum, maybe I don鈥檛. Maybe I used to have them and they died, or I no longer grow them for some other reason.鈥�
Bizarre and unusual trees inhabit not only fairy tales and dreams, but also his Oregon garden. Touching the soft stems and leaves of 鈥楩airy Hair鈥� Japanese maple and the hard sharp foliage of 鈥楻asen鈥� Japanese cryptomeria stretched my mind and made me believe anew in the magical allure of woody plants.
Penelope O'Sullivan, who writes about trees and shrubs at Diggin' It, is the author of "The Homeowner's Complete Tree & Shrub Handbook: The Essential Guide to Choosing, Planting, and Maintaining Perfect Landscape Plants." She has a landscape design business on the New Hampshire 蝉别补肠辞补蝉迟.听
Editor鈥檚 note: To read more by Penelope, check our . For more Monitor gardening, see our main gardening page and our .
You may also want to visit . Take part in and get answers to your gardening questions. If you join the group (it鈥檚 free), you can upload your garden photos and enter our next contest. We'll be looking for photographs of fruits. So find your best shots of summer's blueberries, peaches, plums, etc., and get out your camera to take some stunning shots of early fall apples. Post them before Sept. 30, 2009, and you could be the next winner.
