Planting Japanese maples and a TV shoot behind the scenes
Yesterday, I blogged about choosing and purchasing 117 Japanese maple trees from Environmentals, a nursery in Cutchogue, New York. After unloading the trees, Shaun affixed metal nametags onto each specimen and started positioning them in the shade garden, paying close attention to size and shape. Because I think it's very important to document such projects, I asked my field television crew to visit last Friday and take footage for a segment, which will air in early November. It was a perfect day for planting and I was impressed when Shaun reported that all 117 trees were in the ground and watered by day's end. Francesca and Sharkey were also involved with the planting and posted it on their blog today, as well.
1 The Japanese maples that Shaun bought at Environmentals were unloaded down in the shade garden.
2 The great variety will so much color to this area.
3 Going over the order of taping with Laurie Hepburn and Gary Nardilla.
4 The rest of Gary's crew standing by along with Mary Curran - hair and makeup
5 When planting trees, we like to use this organic Bio-tone Starter fertilizer to help promote root growth.
6 The camera is rolling.
7 Laurie is happy with what she sees in the monitor.
8 Shaun is describing the characteristics of Japanese maples.
9 Rich and moist compost from the compost yard
10 Preparing the hole for planting
11 This is so much fun! Now, we only have 116 more to go!
12 When TV was done taping, the real work began. This is Phurba Sherpa.
13 Wilmer, digging away
14 This is not the easiest task with so many roots and rocks.
15 The Biotone
16 Shaun sprinkles 1-1/2 cups per 2 gallon container.
17 This beautiful maple will be planted in this hole.
18 Aptly named Acer palmatum 'Sunrise'
19 Very pretty leaves
20 Shaun is demonstrating the planting process again for the blog camera.
21 Removing the tree from the pot, Shaun uses his garden knife to scarify the root ball.
22 It's important to break up the roots this way, all the way around the root ball, to stimulate new outward growth.
23 Lifting the compost
24 To blend it into the soil and Biotone
25 Placing the tree into the hole
26 Shaun checks to see that the trunk is perfectly upright.
27 He then begins filling in the hole with the amended soil. It's important to mound a dam around the tree to hold in water.
28 Busy at work
29 The Japanese maples from Environmentals were grown from grafts. You can see the 'V' cut where the graft took place. Hybrid trees are multiplied by grafting.
Photos By Eliad Laskin
Martha Pins
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Martha, may I say that the spot you chose for the Japanese maples is absolutely ideal. They will look SO gorgeous along that little roadway next to the stone wall. Excellent! Can't wait to see the segment in November.
Posted by: Andrew Ritchie | October 7th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Thank you being true to your self and making a success work for all of us... thank you being a helpful and inspiring...human being... right now I am in Alaska thanks for spell check! hahah
well the moose are down town, snow is on some of the mountains and the leaves yellow and some other colors are there thou the rain or the sunshine .... Martha have a great day rest when you can and be for a lot longer... enjoyed the article on by the ocean and the hiking path shared with friends just loved it..BJ Tucker..
Posted by: B J TUCKER | October 7th, 2009 at 12:38 am
ps we are 4 hours behind you here..... night
Posted by: B J TUCKER | October 7th, 2009 at 12:40 am
I love Japanese maples. I had one that had been a gift from a neighbor but one of my kids broke it off and it was never replaced.
We had our first hard frost here last night. With fair warning I had picked the last of the tomatoes and beans and armloads of flowers.
Summer's really over!
Posted by: Clayvessel at Pie in the Sky | October 7th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Dear Martha!
What an exciting process for planting Japanese maples. Wow beautiful and colorful variety. Shaun and his crew did a great job. It is true that no landscape is complete without a Japanese Maple, you are so fortunate to have such a grove. I wish you a wonderful gardening year.
Thank you Martha for this very informative and great post. I loved it!
Looking forward to seeing the segment in November.
Bonne chance!
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | October 7th, 2009 at 3:15 am
Look at the beautiful foliage on the maples already!
Posted by: Lynn from For Love or Funny | October 7th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Just love your new japanese maple grove. They are so beautiful. You have a great variety of them now. So colorful. I can't wait to see the segment on the maples in November.
Linda
Phila., PA
Posted by: Linda | October 7th, 2009 at 9:32 am
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OhGosh!
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Candy Land winds through the woods at Cantitoe Corners! How very much fun to design and dig this creation!!
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I have a question about just ONE color from the woods. I cultivated a plot full of RED TRUMPET VINE. It was done to raise money for charity and now they're all missing! Much to my shock, our work crew missed direction, and mowed them all down!
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Will they sprout up again before the season is over or are they a one shot deal - once cut, coiled and spoiled?
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I'm waiting, but see nothing worthwhile yet.
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Thank you,
Andrea
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Posted by: http://andyjspencer.blogspot.com/ | October 7th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Hi Martha,
Already your Japanese maples are looking good. That grove is going to be beautiful once the trees mature.
~
What a guy Shaun is – lucky you! Do you think he’d like to come down to Florida for a couple of days to get rid of some rocks and put down some mulch for me? Ha, dream on, eh, not to mention, what kind of a vacation would that be? Actually, I wouldn’t even want him to see my pathetic garden that needs more plants and somebody please shoot me for putting all those rocks down in the first place!
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I am off to borrow one of the pictures you took of the Steinhardt’s maples. The one with the bridge is really beautiful. Trish
Posted by: Trish | October 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I adore Japanese maple, thank you for sharing.
Posted by: The Blushing Hostess | October 7th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
We bought "a" tree and I was doing the happy dance.....117 oh my !!!
I was at the Christmas Tree Shop and bought 2 of your lamp shades called Bouillotte, the pleat is so pretty. I got such a deal @ 2.99 a piece...I wonder what the original price was ???
All the best,
Kathy
Posted by: Kathy :) | October 7th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I am excited!...these are going to be something else! With your good compost, the BioTone added to the planting holes and fill mixture, and fall being the prime season for planting, you cannot go wrong! I didn't know yesterday that you'd be capturing the actual planting process on film for posterity. I'll look forward to seeing this segment in November, as you said.
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Honest!...before I even got to the picture showing the roots and rocks encountered while digging, in seeing the surrounding understory location that you had in mind, I KNEW that the digging wouldn't be easy. With other trees around with their competing tree roots, then was the time when 'what a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge on it.'!! [ChasDudleyWarner] (I've always loved this little saying!...it rings true for many fellow-gardeners!) Times one hole by 117!... 1 x 117 = a major workout for the upper body! Schwhew! I see, too, that Shaun had his handydandy planting knife/trowel - that looked really nifty last week on your show, and I want one!
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You're gonna bop me for saying this, but what you need now is a little dose of liquid sunshine containing those magic ingredients that we otherwise can't seem to exactly duplicate (unless, of course, you have a rain barrel [or several hundred]). [giggle]
~
=^..^=
Posted by: Cindy Bricker | October 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Hi Martha, Wow, what a fabulous blog about planting 117 beautiful Japanese maples. How long did it actually take? What fun it was to see all of you digging in and getting them planted. The Daily Wag was pretty cool, also. Can't wait to see this video on your TV program. My beautiful Japanese maple is getting that beautiful autumn color it gets every year. Thanks again for sharing. Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | October 7th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I can't wait to see them all planted. It will be gorgeous!
Posted by: cbh | October 8th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Im curious to know why you plant such small trees? The hundreds of evergreens saplings planted in the fall and now these maples in 15 gallon pots. It seems you are quite the optimist.
Posted by: joshua | October 8th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Hi Martha: I love your fall plantings-these are beautiful pictures. I really enjoyed your show today--learning how to do arrangements is fun. One thing about the questions you answer on twitter: the one about the eggs being hard to peel --if one adds 1 teaspoon salt to the water-let eggs boil--they will peel beautifully--thanks
Posted by: Mindy1953 | October 8th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Can someone please explain exactly what scarify means, and how large a hole needs to be dug? I plan on planting a Japanese Maple in my yard next spring. I am saddened by the fact that I have to cut down a 10 story high cherry tree that I adore, and plan to replace with a much smaller but more colorful Japanese Maple.
Posted by: Donna Duncan | October 8th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Does anyone know about planting Japanese maple seeds?
Posted by: Rhonda Hanson | November 2nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm