Splitting the Maple trees

With summer arriving here in my little garden in japan the temperature is increasing noticeably. For most of the plants the extra heat is great, but for some the hot weather means stress, and that can lead to diseases or other problems. Maple trees usually thrive in the warm temperatures of Tokyo's summer, but, because my little maple tree pot was growing four different trees, I was worried the heat would be too much for them. Last year they got sick and I almost got no show for the autumn. So, to give them a better chance, I decided to split them.

The maple pot was getting a bit crowded

My initial plan last year was to choose the prettiest one after autumn and just cut away all the others, but when the time came I had no heart to kill the rest of the plants, and so they keep on growing. I should had split them in early spring, when they where on they dormant state and before they sprouted back to life, but out of procrastination I didn't. When spring came they all got new leaves and the pot started to be a bit overcrowded. Something had to be done but I didn't want to kill anyone.

They were four maples growing in that pot

Finally, last month I took some time to split the maple tree planter and put each plant into its own. I had to wait until then for the spring sprouts to gain strength to avoid hurting the plant even more, but of course that also meant I would had to deal with more tangled roots at the time of separating them. It was a risk either way.

It was a mesh of tangled roots

I opened up the pot and dealt with the mesh of tangled roots. They had grown very close together, to the point it was very hard to know where one tree started and the other one ended. It took me a while and I had to snip away a couple of roots, but I was able to split them apart. After the transplant the trees got a bit stunned and stopped growing, luckily seems that the worst was just a couple scorched leaves.

These are my favorites, they looks great in autumn

Now I am sure they will do very well this summer, and I wont have to worry about them getting sick or dry. The only thing is that I have no idea what will I do with four trees in such a small balcony. Maybe I will turn a couple into bonsai, I have always wanted a maple bonsai.

Only a couple of scorched leaves to regret

So, while everything ended up ok, my gardening lesson of the day was to avoid procrastination (seems to be a lesson I keep trying to learn). I could have avoided loosing half a year of growth and those scorched leaves if I had done the transplants in early spring. But well, that is gardening, you learn every day.

My Bougainvillea

One of the favorite plants on my garden at Mexico is my Bougainvillea. It is a beautiful bush/tree that blooms and continues growing all year round. Almost everybody compliments on it, and it has been one of the landmarks for our house.

My bugambilia in full bloom

Last time I came to Mexico, I had introduce it. But back then, because we had had some very strong winds that took down a lot of the flowers, I was not able to show it on its full glory. This time I was more lucky and got to take a photo of it on its prime.

We have around ten different plants on the garden. They started as little plants that we put around the outer fence. At one point they took over the whole front and looked amazing, but they grew too thick, so we decided to prune them in a tree form better. Also, at the beginning they had rarely any blooms. But, one time when we were at the garden, we (my father and I) said that it might be good to prune it away, because it didn't seem like flowering much. Since that time it started flowering like crazy to the point that my dad never ever wants to prune it at all.

The other bugambilias are also blooming nicely

The biggest bugambilia (spanish) we have are actually two different plants. They grew so big that they mixed together and made one big bunch. They look amazing all bloomed, we are so happy it decided to flower already. Other thing, after they started blooming so much, my dad started getting cuttings from them and planting more around the house. Now we have one on the sidewalk and others on the back. Even my grandmother has one at her house from our garden. They all seem to be growing nice.

It is a very beautiful plant to have, and I would recommend it to anybody with a big and sunny space to fill.

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Bauhinia blakeana ~ The Hong Kong orchid tree (香港蘭)

I am back from my trip to Hong Kong! It was a really nice trip. I got to eat a lot of great food, tour around, see a lot of things and experience a different Christmas from what I know.

Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

On my wanderings around the city I was lucky enough to find one of the Orchid trees that are the landmark of the city. The Bauhinia blakeana (Chinese: 洋紫荊) is the floral emblem of Hong Kong. It appears in Hong Kong coins, the flag, the coat of arms and it even has a statue made in its honor.

Hong Kong orchid tree

Here is a little of what I found about the tree

The Bauhinia blakeana, or Hong Kong orchid tree (香港蘭), is an evergreen tree from the genus Bauhinia, It has large thick leaves and purplish red flowers. It is very fragrant, orchid-like flowers around 10-15 cm across, and blooms from early November to the end of March. It is sterile (does not produce seed), and is a hybrid between Bauhinia variegata and Bauhinia purpurea. The tree prefers a sheltered sunny position with good soil. Propagation is done by cuttings and air-layering.

Hong Kong Flag

The cultivation of this tree originated in Hong Kong in 1880, intensify in 1914 with some heavy planting around the city, and then spread world wide from there. It is said that all of the cultivated trees derive from one cultivated at the Hong Kong Botanic Gardens.

It is a very beautiful tree, no wonder why they choose it as their emblem. Any landmark/emblem plants from your cities?

My japanese maple

Maple trees are one of my favorite plants. I love them since i was a kid and used to call them star leaf tree.

New leafs on my Japanese maple tree 

I got this maple as a gift last year. It is one of the most stable of all
my plants because it develops very slowly. I have had very few problems with it.

This particular batch is actually four different trees. At first I though they where just branches of the same tree that were covered by too much soil, but as it has grown and developed more, the distinction between the leafs on each branch became very obvious. I am not sure how I can try and separate all four trees, so I think what is best is to just choose one and raise accordingly.

Now I'm just waiting for October to see the turning colors and depending on that I will pick one branch to raise. I already sort of choose one because the shape of the leafs is my favorite, but maybe the colors this autumn will change my mind.

Last year I missed on the turning color of the leafs because a small vacation drought accelerated the effect and they turned brown immediately. Also not all the branches were fully developed so many had only a few leafs.

The only problems I had with the maple tree had been a moth caterpillar that ate a bunch of leafs when I wasn't looking and a very mild case of powdery mildew, probably from the strawberries. Other than that it is a very happy tree. It also resisted very well this summer vacation drought, so everything is good.

My Japanese maple posing next to my Kalanchoe

I hope I can keep growing it in that pot while I try to prune and train into a nice shape.