Schocking Gold

One of favorite native trees is looking stunning in our parking lot. Acer rubrum ‘Schocking Gold’ was discovered by NC plantsman Richard Schock near his home in Boonville, NC. Richard shared his find with us in 1993, and we subsequently named the tree after him. Occasionally, when we’ve seen it offered, it’s listed incorrectly as ‘Shocking Gold’. We propagated one of these for the upcoming Southeastern Plant Symposium auction.

Acer rubrum ‘Schocking Gold’

Geisha Gone Wild

Our garden specimen of Acer palmatum ‘Geisha Gone Wild’ is looking quite fabulous. Not only is it great from a distance, but a closeup of the foliage is simply amazing. Our 10 year-old plant has reached 10′ in height.

Acer palmatum ‘Geisha Gone Wild’

Acer palmatum ‘Geisha Gone Wild

Act Like a Tree and Leave

We all love the color of leaves in fall…at least until they need to be raked. Here are a few that we enjoyed at JLBG recently.

Acer triflorum ‘Aureum’ really put on a lovely show with leaves that held on quite a while. It also colored later than most other maples.

Acer triflorum ‘Aureum’

Euonymus carnosus was quite stunning, although the effect really didn’t show up as well in the photo.

Euonymus carnosus

Parrotia persica is one of the last deciduous trees to color and drop in our garden. The typical color is yellow, although I’ve seem some pretty amazing red-leaf forms as well. We have not noticed much in the way of color on Parrotia persica ‘Vanessa’.

Parrotia persica

Parrotia subaequalis is the star of the genus when it comes to fall foliage, which is a brilliant purple red.

Parrotia subaequalis Ogisu clone

Although our row of Metasequoia ‘Ogon’ turn brown in fall, it’s still an amazing show. These are the oldest plantings of this cultivar in the US.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Ogon’

Tree-ted to the Maple Clan

Last weekend, we were thrilled to host a bus tour from the International Maple Society, that was meeting in North Carolina. As you can imagine, it was fascinating to walk the gardens with such an amazing and diverse group from around the world. Here are a few of our visitors: Tim (l) and Matt (r) Nichols of Mr. Maple Nursery in NC. The Nichols brothers have set the woody plant world on fire with their amazing mail order nursery, based out of the Asheville area. Maples aren’t their only focus, but there hasn’t been a woody plant mail order nursery in my lifetime to do such a great job with both selection and customer service as the Nichols brothers.

Sandwiched in between them are Haruko and Talon Buchholz of Buchholz Nursery. Talon has long been one of my horticulture idols, and I’ve been blessed to have visited their nursery twice during the last 30 years. Although Talon has visited JLBG once prior, this was my first time to meet his amazing wife, Haruko. Like Mr. Maple, Buchholz Nursery in Oregon focuses on maples and conifers, but unlike Mr. Maple, Buchholz is strictly wholesale.

Photo of Tim Nichols, Haruko Buchholz, Talon Buchholz, Matt Nichols
Tim Nichols (l), Haruko Buchholz, Talon Buchholz, Matt Nichols