Topiary Gardens

little critters

topiary — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:54:53 +0000

As I was watering plants a few weeks ago, I was startled by movement under the bark in one of the container boxed maples. I didn’t want to move in too quick unless it was something that would jump out at me like a rat. As I moved closer, I noticed the fur looked like rabbit fur and sure enough, there under the bark were five little baby bunnies. They were so cute. I try to keep bunnies out of the maples because they just love to chew them. My mother wants them out of the gardens because they chew everything they find especially her favorite, oriental and asiatic lilies, in which she anticipates seeing them every year. This year, she had quite a time keeping the rabbits away from them. Anyways, I couldn’t kill the bunnies, how could I. I can’t even kill a spider that lives in the house. I have to move it outside.

The bunnies are adorable. I’ll let them grow up. Now, they are bouncing around through the containers and in the gardens. I probably will regret it later but I can’t help myself when it comes to animals or insects. They have their own life just like humans. It is just a different life than ours. Humans keep pushing the animals away…….They have to live somewhere………So, if they come here, they are very welcome.

2009 Maple Society Fall Symposium

topiary — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:13:24 +0000

This year the Society Symposium will be in Portland, OR from October 8th-October 10th. You don’t have to be a Society member to attend. It is worth the trip if you’d like to see great gardens and nurseries.

Thurs, Oct 8th

5-7 pm Registration and Reception in the ‘Gallery’

Friday, Oct. 9th

7-8 am Breakfast

8:15 am 2 speakers

9:30 am Bust to Heritage Nursery upon arrival there will be a 2 hour tour including a 30-40 min. speaker

1-1:30 pm box lunch

1:30 pm Bus to Oak Restoration Area (refreshments provided)

3:00 pm Board bus for hotel and arrive at 4:30pm

6 pm Buffet Dinner at hotel

7-8 pm surprise Entertainment

Saturday, Oct, 10th

7-8 am Breakfast

8:15 2 speakers

9:45 am Bus to Buchholz Nursery for a 2 hour tour and a box lunch at 12:45

1:15pm Depart to Hoyt Arboretum to tour Acer collection which is a 1 hour visit

3:15 pm Depart for Portland Japanese Gardens to tour gardens for 1 1/2 hrs before departing to the hotel at 5 pm

6pm Banquet at hotel and a silent auction at 7 pm

8pm Key not speaker-Dick Van der Maat

Sunday, Oct. 11th

7-8 am breakfast

8:15 am depart hotel for Iseli Nursery and tour nursery from 9:30 am-11am

11 am depart for Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood to tour lodge inside and out for 1 hour and have lunch at Timberline Lodge restaurant.

2pm Depart lodge for Jim Schmidt’s house to tour his landscape of Acers.

4 pm Depart for hotel and arrive at 5

6pm Dinner at hotel

This is just a briefing of the events that will take place. There is also a special post tour to Mt. St. Helens in WA on Oct. 12th and on Oct. 13th a trip to see Japanese Maples, Bonsai and Lakewold Gardens.

If you are interested and would like more information please contact Frank Byles at bylesfj@comcast.net

Ed Shinn’s Spring Maple showing 2009 to benefit the Maple Society

topiary — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:12:20 +0000

Dear Maple Enthusiast,

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the seventh annual spring maple viewing being held at my home at the New Jersey shore on Saturday May 16, 2009. I have been growing Japanese Maples and conifers in my gardens for the last 19 years and have approximately 300 maple cultivars with over 500 trees planted in my gardens along with about 350 conifers and other companion plants on just over two acres. For the past six years a small group of maple enthusiast gets together each spring to talk about our experiences with maples, new trees we have acquired, companion plants and our successes and failures. This event is an informal gathering on the local level to provide an opportunity to talk maples in addition and to help promote the Maple Society and build membership in our areas.

This past year I joined the American Conifer Society (ACS) and attended their North East Region meeting in NJ. I discovered a wonderful group of dedicated gardeners that not only collected conifers but also maples and other plants. I found it interesting that many of the ACS members collected maples and did not know about the Maple Society. I thought that the spring gathering would be a great opportunity to introduce the ACS members to the Maple Society and the Maple Society members to the ACS.

I was fortunate enough to have known Dick Wolff and have some well established examples of his lesser known cultivars in my gardens as well as his more popular trees. New additions to the garden this year are an outdoor kitchen and bar area on the patio and over 50 new cultivars of maples and other companion plants in new island beds.

Below is a preliminary agenda for this event.

9:30 to 10:00: Continental Breakfast and Check In. (you are welcome to come earlier and lend a hand)

10:15: Welcome and Overview of the garden. Ed Shinn

10:30: Presentation, Little known cultivars from Dick Wolff. Joe Shinn

11:00: Garden Tour

12:15: Lunch Menu in Planning

1:45: Questions and Answers

2:00: Afternoon Garden Tour (anything you missed), Refreshments, Networking and Silent Plant Auction*.

3:00: Silent Plant Auction ends.

* This year we will hold two silent plant auctions. One will be to benefit the Maple Society NAB and the other will benefit the American Conifer Society. Attendees are welcome to bid on any plants they are interested in. Remember to bring your check book.

We ask that you bring a maple or other plant to donate to the silent auction and that you provide the species, cultivar name, a brief description and size of these items for the silent auction in advance so that we may prepare the auction bid sheets. You are welcome to send a plant for the auction even if you can not make the event.

Attendance is limited to 60 people on a first come basis and we are expecting approximately 25 to 30 from the ACS. Please respond via email to edward@eshinn.com. My garden and home is located in central coastal New Jersey, about one hour from NYC, Philadelphia and Atlantic City and easily accessible from major highways. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or for directions.

Edward T. Shinn

3214 Allaire Road

Wall, NJ 07719

Working with mother nature.

topiary — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 13:55:56 +0000

Spring is fast approaching and most of the snow has melted. That gave me a great opportunity to walk around the fields in the nursery to see how the plants weathered during the winter months. Ugh! Much to my amazement I was devastated by what I had saw. This has never happened to anything in the nursery for the 19 yrs that I have been growing in the fields. Voles have devoured the Japanese maple trees along with some Grand firs. There are about 50 trees that have to be taken out . These maples have been growing in the field since 2000. There is nothing that can be done. I have to just grin and bear it and continue to make more. Just that it will be years before they get to that size again.

The other situation I came across was the damage to the newly planted maples in the Aceratum that I am creating on 3 acres. There is one spot through the area that has very sandy soil. The maples through this vein of soil have had their trunks burned by the wind. You will note on the photo about 8-10 inches up from the base a black color. That is the burned cambien layer of the trunk. The energy will not be able to go to the top of the tree because of this. There are about 6 trees that have completely died and about 10 that look iffy. This occurred at the end of February when the snow had melted and the winds were blowing at 45 mph with a temperature of 20 degrees. Making the windchill below 0. This lasted for 3 days. If it was for one day, the maples would have had a chance but it was too cold for too long. Another bummer, luckily I do have copies of these maples that have died in containers in the cold storage buildings. They are not as large but at least I still have the variety.

Which brings me to my last brush with mother nature. I have 4 storage buildings and the maples are stacked in on top of each other. Every year, I have to put a rodentcide down to keep the mice from chewing and eating the trees during the winter months. Back in late February, I noticed that the rodentcide was gone. In three buildings I put some more down and the last building, I decided to put it down on the next day. I went in the next day and damage was already done. The mice had breakfast that morning on the new 2008 grafts that were to be put on the online store. They had made stubs out of about 25 plants and chewed the understock on some of the high grafted dissectums scarring them. I will have watch the scarred maples grow and heal in the maple hospital for a year or two. It never fails that the maples that the critters like to chew on are ones that are very rare and that I don’t have a lot of. You can see the path they make to get to the rarest maples there are. I think the various varieties must smell or taste different to them. Now, I just have to make more but it will take another year or two to get numbers up again on some of the varieties. I don’t blame the critters for eating. The were hungry and I neglected to put out the rodentcide.

I also have deer damage in the fields. That doesn’t seem to bother me. I have a couple fields of yews that they love to browse on. I leave that for the deer. Since, I let them browse on the yews, they don’t seem to bother the maples or other plants that are growing in the nursery. If they do browse on other items, I just consider it as selective pruning.

I have a lot of work to do this spring in the nursery. Remove dead trees from the Aceratum, take out damaged trees from the field and make more grafted maples. I planned on doing about 2000 grafts this year. Maybe now, I should do more. It is always a live and learn experience when mother nature is involved. You can’t get upset when something happens to your plants because of nature. It is a part of working with it. You never know what might happen.

Japanese maple ‘Unknown’ officially named ‘Jewels’

topiary — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:20:57 +0000

Stanley and sons has officially named there seedling maple that was previously known as ‘Unknown’ to ‘Jewels’ in honor of their new daughter-in-law and Steven’s wife Julie Meloy. She is known as ‘Jewels’ in e-mails and text messages.

For all of you that have purchased the maple as ‘Unknown’, please at some point, change the tag so that ‘Jewels’ is not confused as being a new variety.

‘Jewels’ was founded 20 years ago as a seedling in their understock. It is a nice rounded shaped maple similar to a hime type. You can check the website for a new photo of the maple which is a photo of the original stock plant at Stanley’s.

Maple Society Meeting in Tokyo

topiary — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:08:56 +0000

This year, the Maple Society is meeting in Japan. What a great trip for the maple enthusiast. Not only will you visit some of the top maple nurseries in Japan, you will also be able to go to fabulous gardens and learn a little about the Japanese culture and customs.

This is a worthwhile trip for anyone interested in seeing Japan in a different view. Please read the notes and itinerary below:

ASIA AMERICA EUROPE

MEETING IN TOKYO, JAPAN NOVEMBER 12 – 14, 2008

POST TOURS

TOCHIGI PREFECTURE NOVEMBER 14 – 15, 2008

KYOTO, JAPAN AREA NOVEMBER 16 – 18, 2008

I was just on the phone with Brian Upchurch who has just returned from Japan and he told me most of the Conference details have been worked out. The Japanese, like most of the worlds cultures, like to spend time negotiating over price. This means Brian and Todd Lasseine have to take much time to get us a five star experience for a two star price while the rest of us impatiently wait. They and the Nurserymens Association of Japan are doing a great job at their time and expense to keep costs down for us while lining out a never to be forgotten lifetime not to be missed experience. Please have patience for final details but book your trip now.

The Post Tours will be packed with sights and information that will boggle your mind. We will see many things most tourists never see and learn much more than can be imagined. If at all possible you will definitely want to include the post tours in your trip.

To keep track of progress go to “Google” and type in “Maple Society” then click on the first/top of list. Now click on “2008 Maple Society Meeting” and don’t forget to click on “this thread” at bottom of article for more information. Brian and Todd will get information as soon as firmly confirmed to Daniel Mosquin who will get information up on web site.

Please share this information with any and all as far and wide as possible so that we can share a never to be forgotten experience with as many people as possible. We should be able to greatly increase our membership with this event. I’m finding out people are anxious to join us to be able to participate in such an event. Fun – Sharing – Learning – New Friends – MEMORIES at a never again price, what more can you ask for. Please send me names with e-mail address so we can add them to these information mailings. Help me help you by getting additions, corrections and information to me so it can be shared.

Remember you must depart the U.S. on November 10th to arrive Narita Airport Tokyo on November 11th so you will be able to get to the start of meeting on November 12th. You loose a day crossing the international dateline but you gain a day coming home.

Hope to see you across the big pond

Frank Byles

Member Volunteer

Dear Fellow Maple Society Members:

I have been assisting Brian Upchurch in planning our first-ever international meeting in Japan. Although all of the details are not worked out, we wanted to write you to let you know what information is available right now, particularly the dates so that you can go ahead and purchase plane tickets in case you are interested. I apologize that I cannot furnish you with all of the details, but this E-mail includes all of the information that we currently have available. Please read this entire E-mail before making any plans.

DATES:

General Meeting — November 12 through 14, 2008

Post-conference tour of nurseries and natural areas in Tochigi Prefecture (north-northwest of Tokyo) — November 14 & 15.

Post-conference tour of gardens and nurseries and natural areas, Kyoto area and close-by — November 16, 17, & 18

SPEAKERS:

Three speakers are confirmed from the Japanese Nurserymen’s Association

Dr. Yokoi — New Japanese Maples

Mr. Murakoshi — Native Maples of Japan

Mr. Kawaharada — Propagation of Japanese Maples

(More information on these speakers will be provided at a later time.)

Non-Japanese speakers confirmed thus far:

Dr. Richard Olsen, U.S. National Arboretum — Breeding and Selection Work in Acer at USNA

Mr. Dan Hinkley, U.S. Pacific Northwest, famous plant explorer and horticultural guru — American Maples and their Asian Counterparts

We are still working on a potential speaker from China as well as another from Europe. There may be another speaker from North America. These details will be announced as we have them available.

MEETING FACILITY:

Kawaguchi Center (located in Saitama Prefecture, directly north of Tokyo) — This is an excellent facility at which both Brian and I have spoken, and it is very close to many of the nurseries located in Saitama Prefecture. For those who do not know, the Kawaguchi city / Saitama city area is a very old nursery district (known before as Angyo) that houses a great many nurseries (much smaller in size to what we think of in North America, but in many cases growing a more diverse selection of plants). Some of these nurseries are maple specialists. Brian and I have traveled there on numerous occasions. The Japanese have been practicing the art of horticulture for over 1,000 years, and the Angyo district is known to have had nurseries since at least the 1600s. You will be amazed at the level of horticulture in this part of the world. Prepare yourself!

MEETING COST:

$100.00 — This registration fee is NOT due at this time but is only being furnished now to help you in your own decision-making process for determining if you can participate in this meeting.

LODGING:

No exact details are yet known, but Brian will be traveling back to Japan before the end of May (this month) to finalize these matters. This information, as with the meeting cost above, is only being provided for decision-making purposes. Do not send in payment to myself or the Maple Society for this portion of the trip costs. Details on this will be announced as soon as we have them. Room rates will be roughly $160.00 per night per person for single occupancy and $80.00 per night per person for double occupancy. These rates include breakfast. All amounts are quoted in U.S. dollars. I do not know how the fluctuating dollar will affect these rates at the moment.

TOUR INFORMATION:

Tsukasa Maple Nursery — Morning of November 12 — A fee will be charged for this visit, roughly $50.00 to $60.00 per person, to cover bus fare, lunch, and other minor costs. Tsukasa Maple Nursery is one of the best maple nurseries in the world. Many of you will already know about this place, but will not have had the chance to visit.

Tochigi Prefecture Tour will include visits to hot springs, the Toshogu shrine, maples in the wild, and other items on Nov. 14 and 15. You will not be disappointed on this tour. Preliminary costs are $200.00 to $250.00 per person including hotel and transportation. We are not sure if meals are covered in this cost, as yet.

Kyoto Tour — Group will travel by Shinkansen (the bullet train) to Kyoto — a world-famous city renowned for its old temples and gardens. We will also see many maples in the wild, but a list of which ones is not available. Since we will be traveling there during a busy tourist season for Kyoto, the cost will be around $300.00 to $400.00 per person including hotel, and transportation. As with the Tochigi Prefecture tour, we are again not sure if meal costs are included in this tour.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Flights: Book all flights using Tokyo Narita (NRT) airport as the arrival destination. We are not yet sure of shuttle service to Kawaguchi but will be working on this, too. The shuttle may involve additional costs, but we do not yet know how much cost this may incur. If you book your flights now, do not panic if we have not yet announced the shuttle service. You should plan to arrive the day before the conference starts, not the day on which it begins. You should also plan to depart the day after the conference or post-conference tour ends, whichever is applicable. Do not forget to note that you will cross the international date line in traveling to and from Japan. Make absolutely sure that you do not arrive a day late or leave a day earlier than you would like.

Passports: You will need a valid passport from your country of origin. For U.S. visitors, no visa is required to travel to Japan. Do NOT underestimate the time it will take for U.S. citizens to acquire passports as there have been considerable delays in processing these over the last year or so. Information on acquiring passports, for those of you who do not have one, can be found out at your local post office.

Plants: The Society will not be handling any requests for assistance in bringing plants back from Japan to your country of origin on this trip. Bringing plants into the U.S. (I cannot speak for Canada) is a difficult and tightly regulated process, for many valid reasons. In addition to requiring a valid, unexpired U.S. plant import permit, a phytosanitary inspection certificate from the country of origin is also required. We will not be asking our Japanese colleagues to facilitate the tedious and time-consuming matter of arranging for a Japanese phytosanitary inspection, as they will be fully immersed in preparing for the conference. Fines for illegally bringing plants back in to the U.S. are severe (ranging in the thousands of dollars), and the plants will also be burned if found. There are a number of insect and disease pests that exist in other countries but that have not yet made it to U.S. shores. We want to keep it that way. Please leave plant collecting to the professionals who do this for a living. This is not a casual subject, and the “rule of 12″ that used to exist for all U.S. citizens no longer exists nor applies in the post-9/11 world. I am sorry to have to sound so negative on this, but the Society simply cannot afford to be involved in any potential mishaps due to anyone illegally bringing in plants at the end of the trip and then claiming that it was sanctioned by the Society.

Thank you very much. I hope that as many of you as possible will consider joining us this November in Japan. This meeting will be a historic one for the Society, and we feel that you will leave with lifelong memories. The people who are helping to organize this event on the other side of the Pacific are very excited and honored to have us come to Japan. You will be very favorably impressed with them, not only for their professionalism and hospitality and horticultural expertise, but also for their kindness and friendship.

Thank you very much. We will be back in touch with you with more exact details, including how to register, as soon as possible. If you want to purchase you plane tickets now, please feel free to do so.

Sincerely,

Todd Lasseigne, Maple Society member

____________________________

F. Todd Lasseigne, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Paul J. Ciener Botanical Garden

P.O. Box 725

Kernersville, NC 27285

Phone: 336 996 7888

Fax: 336 996 7884

E-mail: ToddLasseigne@PJCBG.org

Web: www.PJCBG.org

Sixth annual spring maple showing-NJ

topiary — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:21:13 +0000

My maple friend, Ed Shinn in Wall, NJ is having a maple gathering. I had hoped I would be able to attend but it is a bad time to go anywhere for nursery people. You are all welcome to attend. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ed at edward@eshinn.com The listing of event is below.

Things are super busy at the nursery. I have finally been removing the maples from the cold storage buildings. I was waiting for the last frost which was on Thursday, May 1st. The maples look spectacular this year. It is always nice to see the new growth and the great colors.

It is also a spectacular time here at the nursery for the flowering shrubs and trees. What a treat to see all the colors. If get a chance, I will take some photos.

Hope some of you can make it to Ed’s event. I will be donating some nice maples for his sale to help promote the Maple Society.

Catch you all later……….Diana

Dear Maple Society Member and Maple Enthusiasts,

I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the sixth annual spring maple viewing being held at my home at the New Jersey shore on Saturday May 17, 2008. I have been growing Japanese Maples in my gardens for the last 18 years and have approximately 250 cultivars with over 400 maples planted in my gardens on just over two acres. A small group of maple enthusiasts gets together each spring to talk about our experiences with maples, new trees we have acquired, companion plants and our successes and failures. This event is an informal gathering on the local level to provide an opportunity to talk maples in addition and to help promote the Maple Society and build membership in our areas.

I was fortunate enough to have known Dick Wolff and have some of his lesser known cultivars in my gardens as well as his more popular trees. New additions to the garden this year are an outdoor kitchen and bar area on the patio and over 50 new cultivars of maples.

Below is a preliminary agenda for this event.

9:15 to 10:00: Continental Breakfast and Check In.

10:00: Welcome and Overview of the garden. Ed Shinn

10:15: Presentation, Benefits of The Maple Society!

10:45: Garden Tour

12:15: Lunch Menu in Planning

1:45: Questions and Answers

2:15: Afternoon Garden Tour (anything you missed), Refreshments, Networking and Silent Plant Auction.

3:45 Silent Plant Auction ends.

The spring maple viewing is free of charge and all proceeds from the silent auction will benefit the NAB Maple Society. Anyone wishing to donate a plant or item to silent auction would be greatly appreciated. Attendance is limited to 25 people on a first come basis. Please respond via email to edward@eshinn.com. My garden and home is located in central coastal New Jersey, about one hour from NYC, Philadelphia and Atlantic City and easily accessible from major highways. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or for directions.

Edward T. Shinn

3214 Allaire Road

Wall, NJ 07719

Hello world!

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:52:12 +0000

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