field maple

Thinking a bit ahead for what I want to achieve with bonsai material this year, I’ve decided that when the time is right, I’ll have a go at air layering a couple of cut back branches on this field maple growing in my hedge.

I’ve identified these two which are low down with good movement and I really like the corky ridged bark that has developed. Fingers crossed that I get round to it and that they take root ok.

Looking around the rest of the garden I decided to inspect other field maple material in the beds. This one was planted in the ground two years ago with a tourniquet in order to grow new nebari. I plan to dig it up and investigate how successful it was as soon as the buds begin to swell.

Over the past year its developed a very interesting feature, corky bark similar to the potential air layer branches in the first couple of photos.

I had always thought of field maple as having smooth bark, even when mature but a while ago a friend showed me an unusual bonsai tree that at first sight I thought was a winged spindle. Turns out that it was a field maple! Seems I’ve got the same cultivar growing here?

However it is interesting to note that this only appears on the branches and not so much the trunk. The trunk is showing a bit of maturity with its textured surface but not so much cork like. Strange. I think I’ll air layer the top of this tree as its needs reduced anyway.