That is good to see your Shantung maples are doing so well. They are a Texas Superstar Plant, so you should have good luck with them and beautiful fall color.

Hi Lou
Mine is doing really well too! It's in bright shade...morning sun only...and it's bigger and fuller. Even in these conditions and last summers drought, it's grow about a foot.

Lou...your trees look wonderful! My 'Fire Dragon' was planted in February and has appreciated the extra moisture to get established. It's in full sun all day long. It's really leafed out and has even begun to develop some yellow winged thingies that contain seeds?? Don't know if that's a good sign or not for this time of year. Otherwise, so far, so good.

Sandradee,

The last two pictures are Fire Dragon! :). I have two more that I planted this spring and are doing MUCH better at the time of the year than the other one did last spring. The one I planted before it leaf out this spring is spreading out a bit right now with georgous rosy red leaves!

What size did you get from Metro Maples? It must be a big one to produce seeds. Mine haven't produced any seeds this year. Hopefully, I will get some next year. I want to plant seeds and see how they turn out for the fun of it.

15-gallon. I didn't have to worry about digging a big hole, as I had already dug up the dead trees the Fire Dragon was to replace.

I see on the Metro Maples website that he's sold out of what he had available this spring, although he states more become available every day.

Yikes. Last thing I want to do is dig a big hole in caliche soil! Plus I don't have a way of bringing that size home anyway. Metro maples will have more for fall crop but who knows how many of them. I plan on getting a couple more 'Fire Dragon' for my mom in Houston. I planted two there in March and they already grew around 8 inches. I was going to get a couple more for my house but not sure if it'd get big enough to cast shade on my house from afternoon sun. It might not get bigger than 25 feet in my caliche soil. I probably will get Shumard oak instead which is good enough! :)

Lou, your Shantung Maples look fantastic.
Mine was planted last spring, and it did great all year last year ... it never suffered at all, even during the scotching hot summer months. The leaves did not even burn!
And this year? It's rocking and rolling, and growing like crazy. These are truly beautiful trees, and easy to establish.
I am training mine to a single, main leader, or it would even be fuller than it is. The grower "topped" the tree during its early stages (they often do that to trees to make them look fuller for retail appeal). I wish they would not do that, because I just have to go to the trouble of correcting the situation for all the trees I have bought from various sources over the years.
Thanks a lot for giving us an update on your trees.

Randy

I should have mentioned that I noticed your grower did NOT top your Shantung Maples.
Evidently, your source is a good, and knowledgeable, one.

Randy

Randy,

Thanks for your kind words.

The first picture is just a regular shantung maple that I picked up at Lowe's last year. Normally, you don't see trees in great shape at lowes or Home depot so it was hard to pass that tree up. Usually at those stores, you see trees with topped central leader. This year, Lowe's is selling FAKE shantung maples in dallas-ft worth area. I don't know about other locations. I guess they have different source this year.

Metro Maples in Ft Worth is the best place to get shantung maples. I think it is the first commerical shantung maple grower in Texas. They don't top trees at all there so they look a bit thin but they fill out fast in the following year in the ground. They have their own patented culitvar called Fire Dragon which gives you consistent red fall color. I have 4 of them on my lot. Stunning rosy red new leaves right now on Fire Dragon. It's different than regular shantung maple for sure.

I will post pictures of 'Fire Dragon' in say 4-5 months for the fall colors. I'm curious to see how they turn out! Mine didn't have much leaves last year but whatever I had was really red so I'm glad.

Have a great summer!

Lou

You know, I have been reading about trees that people discuss here and this just might be a good one to replace the sweet gum we cut down this spring.

I think red leaves in the fall would be beautiful! The sweet gum we removed had mostly burgundy leaves, so a brighter red would be better since it would contrast more with our brick which is more brown/burgundy in color. My Chinese pistache has great fall color too - reds, oranges and yellows all on the same tree.

denise
if you haven't ventured over to MetroMaples do give it a try. It's probably a good hour from where you live (if memory serves me it's around Allen or Frisco) but in the fall it's magic!

I'm going! It's only 30 minutes away from me. Thanks Lou for the pictures.

We planted ours in Spg. '06 too and it's REALLY taken off this year.

I second the warning about being careful about what you actually get at Lowe's. Several years ago I bought "Shantung" maples at Lowes and they wound up being Norway maples. Norway maples did not like my dry alkaline environment.

RCnaylor,

Looks like Lowe's went back to that same supplier this year! The fake ones they are selling look weird. It looked like all of them are grafted? The trunks didnt look right. Not only that, they have TWO different leaf shapes. One is norway maple and SUGAR maple??? It just blew me away when I saw the shantung maple label on them earlier this spring.

Thanks. I found their website and they're in Fort Worth. Maybe this fall I can head over there on a Saturday to get a Shantung Maple. I checked their prices in their catalog and they seem very reasonable. Even the prices for their Japanese maples are reasonable.

Here is a link that might be useful: Metro Maples

I took this picture on another shantung maple 'Fire Dragon' that i planted in early March...

Lou, I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to let you know what very nice looking trees you have. I just got 3 Shantungs from Metro Maples, 2 of which are Fire Dragons, and I am excited about them. Lou, if you have any pictures of your trees when in Fall color, I sure would like to see them, maybe get an ideal of what I can look forward to when my trees get established..

They are some very good looking colors, the red is almost JM Bloodgood looking, and I like the yellow edges. Have you sent a picture of the fall color leaves to Keith at Metro Maples, but then maybe nothing new to him. I am in Bonham, Tx., a little different soil here, some clay, I did find some good spots to plant in, good drainage. Thanks for the update....

I can't recall if I ever sent the picture of the fall color but he did say on his website that the color red do vary a bit depending on climate,location and type of soil. He mentioned "currant red with yellow margins"" so I figured that's what he was talking about the color of mine.

It has been dry for the past couple months so that isn't good for the trees if you're wanting to maximize growth. I try deep watering every week or so but it doesn't seem to have the same effect as the rainwater unfortunately. Last year was pretty good year. I planted several SMs last spring and they grew quite a bit thanks to plenty of rain. I planted another one this spring and so far, no new growth even with watering. Must be something in rainwater! The most important thing for new trees is to water moderately directly into the rootball every 3-5 days. I give 15g of water for 15g tree using the 5g bucket that I slowly pour into the rootball. That ensures that I don't overwater or underwater. Seems to work better than my very first Fire Dragon 2 years ago when I watered only every 10-14 days and it wasn't raining much. That showed, I think...

Thanks for the advice. 2 of the SM's I got, one a Fire Dragon, and the other a regular SM, I planted in my front yard, about 60 or so feet apart from each other. I am hoping to get the red fall colors from the FD, and yellows from the regular SM.

60 feet apart huh? I have 6 shantung maple trees planted about 30 feet apart. I just want shade now! :) 4 of them are Fire Dragon and rest are regular SM. One of two regular SMs appears to be weeping type. I didn't know it would be like that at first last year but i think it's pretty cool look. I actually have another one waiting to be planted. It's a test plant from Keith for me to try it out and see out it turns out. I also am growing about 15,17 SM seedlings that I grew from seeds and I'm starting another batch of seeds pretty soon as soon as they start to germinate in the fridge, they will be planted in the starter seed tray.

You will get plenty of shade, and they will look good to! I already have some muture Oak and Pecan on the property now, so shade is not a problem. I am planning on putting another Fire Dragon in the back, but also have started with some Japanese Maples, I love them, so far all I have is a Bloodgood and Inaba Shidare, so Metro Maples will be seeing more of me in the future, my wife loves the place. Lou, did your Lowe's SM have Yellow fall colors?

Lowe's SM has yellow fall color. It doesn't seem to be fast grower like Fire Dragon but I suppose every seedling is different as I have come to found out after 2 years of growing them.

I have no shade to speak of so i can't really try JMs although I have about 30 green JMs that I grew from seeds this spring. I'm surprised how easy they are to grow from seeds. All I did was soak them for 24 hours and place them on moist paper towel in the container and place it in the fridge. I just wait for them to germinate then I plant them. I'm doing the same thing for red JM and Trident with small leaves. They probably will need another month in the fridge before they start to germinate. Green JM didnt take long to germinate. I figure I'll just plant them at my mom's and sister's in Houston where they have a lot more shade for the fun of it.

I'm thinking about getting dwarf JMs from Metro Maples. I figure I'd just buy 1g size and grow them in larger container for several years till I get enough shade for them.

Lou, the seedlings sound like fun! Have you thought about taking some of them, and making a Bonsai tree. I have seen some pictures over the internet, where they have 3 or 4 maples, put in a Bonsai pot, looking like a forrest scene.

Sure, I've thought about it. I just need to read more about it and see if it's something I can do without taking too much of my time.

Or maybe I'd get very lucky and get true dwarf shantung maple seedling grown from seeds that doesn't get very big like Keith's does. His is only 4x4 feet after 15 years with small leaves. Pretty cool...

GREAT pictures!

I just bought 2 Fire Dragon's yesterday. If you love maples and fall color I HIGHLY recommend a trip to Metro Maples. I wish I would have found it a couple of years ago.

My first Fire Dragon tree appeared to have grown as much as 4 feet this year to my surprise. Others didn't grow as much. Not exactly perfect year for weather... Very hot. Very dry. The trees didn't seem to like tap water all that much...

I have a shantung maple that was planted over 5 years ago. It is living, however, it has not grown at all. It is just like the day that I bought it. I live in Houston.

Any suggestions?

Victoria,

It has not grown for 5 years? Do you have pictures? My mom has shantung maples in Houston and they grew fine. Hmm...

There are several things that may be wrong with yours..

1) Fake shantung maple? I've seen big box stores selling fakes.

2) Not planted right. Very common. Often times, they get planted too deep.

3) No mulch. Trees tend to do much better with mulch. 5 feet wide mulch greatly benefits trees for the first few years while they get established.

4) Planted in soggy area/Low spot where water do not drain. Shantung maples don't like very soggy soil.

Holy MOLY Lou!!!
Those are just lovely. My own native Big Tooth maple has one flower bud! LOL! I am really thinking about trying to propagate the native Maples. Metro is going to stop selling them in favor of the Shantungs. I can see why he loves Asian maples so much, but I'm still kind of dissappointed he won't make room for a few natives too.
I planted the Bigtooth last August so we'll see how it holds up in alkaline clay! PJ

Lou,

We are actually considering driving down to DFW from west of Houston where we live based largely on your posts (& photos) that steered us to Metromaples.com! Fire Dragon is beautiful!

We have Drummond red maples in the backyard that we love, but the seedlings popping up everywhere are a royal pain. I read that most Fire Dragons are infertile males though so we wouldn't have that problem - can you tell me if that's true?

I'm showing my ignorance here, but is it just a crapshoot whether its male or female before it puts out mature seeds or will Metro be able to tell us when we buy?

PJ - My bigtooth maple is still TINY but i expect it to grow several feet in its 2nd year hopefully. I didn't get much of fall color out of it last fall but the new summer growth was very nice. I'd imagine that in several years, I'd get a lot of red new growth during the summer that would be very noticeable.

Graceunderpressure - it doesn't appear that shantung maples are that weedy if at all. I googled for every single info on the internet and nothing came up about it being weedy like red maples (or esp silver maple which is BAD). I understand about a lot of seedlings popping up everywhere but that's oak. Gotta live with them, I guess but it doesn't appear that shantung maple is that bad like others. There's nothing wrong with Fire Dragon. Go for it!

Hi, Lou. Just wanted to drop in to say my Shantung Maple is looking really good this year. It's beginning to leaf out very nicely now. Great tree.

Randy

Lou,

Your trees are gorgeous! I'm west of Houston, and have been looking for a Shantung Maple. And just like graceunderpressure said above, thanks to this thread I think I have a roadtrip ahead of me! Thank you for sharing your pictures and leading me to Metro Maples!

Rebekah

Hey Lou,
My Firedragon looked pitiful going into winter, but it has leafed out beautifully this spring. I think I messed up by getting this sodic, alkaline water on its leaves during that hot 2008 summer. THAT won't happen again!

btw - the Montezuma cypress are doing really well, too.

J.D.