A couple years ago I was walking through a Home Depot in the fall looking to get some electrical stuff. I walked through the garden center where some staff were loading huge A.p. dissectums onto a cart. One person said...want a tree, $25?

I picked out an A.p. 'Garnet' that was about 4' tall. It has excellent structure and has done very well in my garden since.

Today I was in Home Depot again. They had some green dissectums labeled 'Seiryu' that were about 4' tall. Odd to me, they looked to have a structure more like a typical dissectum that what I would expect from an upright grower like 'Seiryu'.

Does anyone know what Seiryu looks like when young? Does it have the upright angled branch structure like 'Sango Kaku' or 'Bloodgood'?

That's the one thing I worry about at the box stores....are the cultivars true to label. Now on a typical red dissectum I scarcely care (does it really matter if it's Garnet, Crimson Queen etc etc?) But it sure would be a problem to buy what you think is 'Seiryu' and get a regular shrubby green dissectum instead.

Hi, I got my seiryu from home depot today. It might be the same as what you saw, about 4 ft tall, It came in 15 gallon container and costed $70. I admit the tree did not need a 15 gal container, but well, the local nursery wants $60 for a 2 gallon seiryu. HD is a great deal and I hesitated last time, and it was all gone in one day!

I have to belive they are real seiryu, it is upright although the branches do get long and heavy and bend down - but it has many branches. The 2 gallon younger seiryu looked very messy since the branches are still weak, but I think most upright maples look like a mess when they a young, kind of leggy. will take a pic later..

I bought my Red Dragon last year from Home Depot for about $30. It was about 30" tall and nicely shaped. Similar trees in nurseries around here sell from $60-80. They also had some nice Fireglows for the same price, and I could kick myself now for not buying one. This year HD doesn't have any decent JMs at the stores near me.

I just bought a bloodgood from HD today. I saw several examples of mislabeled JMs there. Many had the small tags with the correct label, but then had the larger tags with the photo and info with the wrong label.

I'll have to agree. I spent some time looking through the JM selections in our local Walmart the other day. The mislabeling was about as bad as I've seen anywhere.

Then, I got to thinking about how Walmart's distribution chain works and what happens to a vendor who cannot fulfill contractual obligations. Maybe that's why all the Burgundy Laces looked exactly like the Bloodgoods. I mean, who's going to know if I switch a few tags to deliver those 500 Burgundy Laces? The associates at Walmart?

Of course, I also saw my first red-leafed Butterfly at one of our local upscale nurseries this year. Have you ever seen one?

Tam

I stopped in Lowes during my lunch hour today and they had just received a shipment of small (2-gal) Japanese maples. They had some very nice Red Pygmy, Boskoop's Glory, Red Select and Oshio Beni trees. The price wasn't marked but one of the employees said she thought they were $35. The Red Pygmy trees were particularly nice -- about 2' tall and nicely branched. ... Now, if I can just find an excuse to buy yet another JM and figure out where to plant it.

I would be amazed if you could find a well-shaped 3-foot high Tamakuyama for $35. Mislabeling is a real possibility--almost all these trees are grafted. On the other hand, you may have found a bargain!!

I got my little Sango kaku at Home Depot last year. It was $25 for a 2-gallon size (a little less than 3'). I transplanted it into a 5-gal and it's put on about 8" and looks quite healthy. I think perhaps the big box stores just glom onto bargains when they find them ... I have not seen any JM at our HD this year except the ubiquitous Bloodgood.

I wouldn't think volume discounters would take the time to graft a tree. I'd suspect they are hybrids.

Last year I got a 4' tall Tamukeyama from K-Mart. I am confident it was correctly labeled.

Was it a bargain at $40? That's a matter of opinion.

The shape was horrible. Over the last 12 months, I have probably removed about 2/3rd of the branches so that it will mature into a pleasing shape.

On the other hand? I see trees at my local premium garden center (Brigg's, No. Attleboro, MA) that go for $200 - $400 each. They might be 5' - 7' tall, but they look as pruning shears never touched them. They are shrubby messes just like the smaller trees at the cheaper stores.

Considering that I am rarely happy with the shape of trees I see for hundreds of dollars, the extensive pruning that my bargain store purchases require seems a small issue.

JustTrees,

My little Seiryu (18 inches) is distinctively upright, FWIW.