In Sugar Maples do Turn Red I included a couple of photos of leaves from genuine sugar maple trees that offer natural sap almost as sweet as any corn syrup-- and they obviously turn red upon occasion if conditions are right.
In the ongoing sugar-maple marathon, ( a sweet debate indeed) the subject of Trident maples also came up. Trident maples have leaves displaying 3 (moderately sharp) lobes also, see the pic including the muddy gardening-tree guy fingers?
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| Trident Maple leaf and Muddy Fingers |
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| Trident Maple Bonsai in Training Pot |
That single leaf from the photo is from a Trident, and they do turn red too --or at least they do in our location.
The Bonsai trident in the second photo was started from a cutting from exactly the SAME Trident maple tree in our yard --and each year at this time, the bonsai turns brilliant red. In this photo, you can see the colour was spectacular-- in the picture,the leaves are already in fact-- quite faded!
Note that on the bonsai the tiny leaves (about a half inch long) are much reduced in size compared to the full-sized tree leaf above, which can be 3" or longer. If cared for properly the leaves on the bonsai tree --confined to the pot -- will become even smaller,
This species -with the exception of the relatively brittle wood-- is ideal for bonsai and the specimen is about 10 years old. On the bonsai also notice the similarity of colour of the bark to that of the REAL sugar maple in the previous post.
The second bonsai Trident maple following is even smaller--the leaves are even tinier, and although quite faded, even brighter red in colour.
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| Trident Maple 8" high grown from cutting in hand-made clay pot |
I wonder if the bonsai trident maples might be persuaded to give very tiny bottles of maple syrup by boiling very tiny pails of maple sap over very tiny fires? What a sweet idea!
It seems there are many maples, all wanting to be red....and read about.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
