Est' 125 yo Japanese Maple

[alpineart]

This is a massive Japanese Maple

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, possibly one of the first planted in the district . Apparently its history has been recorded by a Family of local Researches/Historians whom date it back to 1880's-1890's . The story goes an old prospector from the gold rush era 1878 staked a claim and planted it in an open paddock beside his Humpy / Hut . He is said to have had a bull who took a liking to it when it was 1.5 m high eventually laying down on it hence the low multi trunk .

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The spread of the canopy is 18 meters although 3 meters has been removed on the house side , the height is estimates at 12-14 meters . The largest main branch is 650mm plus

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with the base being in excess of 1.4 meters

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.Karen stood in for a better perspective of the size of this monster . Many thanks to Mick for the history lesson on this beauty .

Cheers Alpineart

[Boics]

Interesting Alpine.

I didn't know that they even grew that big!

I've only seen them to half of that size or even less.
Interesting that I note the tree is full of seed pods a feature which I don't notice too often on younger trees or others Bonsai.

Does anyone's JM Bonsai seed?

[bodhidharma]

Does anyone's JM Bonsai seed?

Every year. Wow Alpine a wonderful specimen. How about a Autumn shot for us of it colour display.

[alpineart]

Hi Biocs , mate this beauty is 3 times bigger than i have ever seen , there is plenty around the district with 600mm trunks but nothing like this

Hi Bodhi , Mick showed me a pic in Autumn colour taken back in 1988 when he purchased the property , Bloody Awesome , i hope the colour is as spectacular this year but i have my doubts . I didn't get much colour last year and this season looks even worse . I will be keeping a close eye on it and will post an update for sure .

Cheers guys Alpine

[craigw60]

Wow Alpine that is spectacular, even here in the dandenongs where these trees are everywhere I have never seen one that big.
Craigw

[alpineart]

Hi craigw , the largest branch spans over 10meters but would be 15m plus in length . They are very common up here also but now the rest pale in significance compared to this specimen .

Cheers Alpine

[Mojo Moyogi]

Alpine the largest I have seen is a circa 1890 palmatum in a large private garden in Ballaraat that would be about 4/5 the size of this tree and was also multitrunked. Other than that, I can't think of another one that is even close.

Cheers,
Mojo

[shibui]

Must be a good area for A. palmatum up here in North East Vic. These pics are of a great specimen at Mayday Hills (ex lunatic asylum, ex university campus) at Beechworth.

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Acer palmatum Mayday Hills 1 - Copy.JPG

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This is also a wonderful example of the species. I have used this tree as inspiration when trying to create natural looking A. palmatum bonsai.

There are some other great trees in the gardens at Mayday Hills, quite a number are heritage listed as are most of the buildings. Definitely worth a look if you are in Beechworth. Latrobe uni has just last week sold the site to a group of local investors. Hoping they will be able to develop something sensitive with public access for this unique heritage site.