Bask in the glory of a young Trident maple opening its youngest generation of leaves. This article features various photos of this small tree from my bonsai collection.
People are often fascinated by things that are young. Babies, puppies, kittens, etc.. In the same way, I look at small trees with a pride and hope that it will be capable of using all of the youthful energy to build a wonderful life, and possibly a legacy.
The Trident Maple variety of maple trees is treasured by bonsai enthusiasts because of its unique traits. When grown as a cutting, alongside many other cuttings, it has the ability to meld the wood into one, and combine into a singular trunk when held tightly together. Grafting is much easier to do on a Trident maple, because the cut wood heals so well into the new wood.
Trident maples get their name because of the shape of the three-lobed leaves. There are other maples that also have leaves of this shape. Be sure you are starting with a cutting from an actual Trident maple tree if you want to utilize it for bonsai grafts. Once you have one growing, it will forever be available to clone into more tree cuttings.
I never get tired of starting things over again at the beginning. For me that is the easy part, and the beginning of creating something is always the most fun to do. Finishing things is the hard part for me. Often times I prefer to observe and wait, and see what I can learn from the situation as it makes some progress on its own.
Young trees like this one need little help. They have the stuff inside them already to develop quite well on their own. Give them access the sunlight and some water, and it will do the rest.
Below I found some later photos of this tree as new leaves were emerging.
And the later leaves have taken on new colors completely unlike its summer coat.
Historical Information
ID: 0035
Nickname: Unnamed
Type: Trident Maple
Age: 1 year
Grown: cutting
Last repotting: Never
Wired: Never
In the article linked below, I wrote about the original club meeting I attended in which we took cuttings that this tree was grown from.
Be sure to follow my work this week. I'm in the process of sharing the whole host of bonsai trees in my collection. There is over thirty trees I am growing. That means you can enjoy more than a month of fresh content from 's back porch.
Share the goodness with me.
Photos in this post are all #originalworks by , unless stated otherwise.
Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.
No memberships. Love trees. Make friends. Grow together.
#trident #trident-maple #maple #tree-cutting #graft #seedling