Trident Over Rock

I started this little trident from seed. It’s been an interesting journey. When I first started a batch of tridents, a year or two after I started my 2006 batch of black pines, I also started a bunch of Zelkova, Amur Maples, Monterey Cypresses and some Coast Live Oaks. I no longer have any of the Amur’s or those oaks, only one of the Zelkova’s, six of the cypresses and four of the tridents.

I was determined to hate trident maples when I was a beginner. I had no interest in growing stereotypical species and couldn’t understand why people always stuck with the classics in their collections. Was it just a matter of tradition? Well, many years later my interest in Japanese species has increased while my interest in native species has waned. There are numerous reasons, but let’s just say that I am definitely a trident maple fan at this point.

I initially placed this tree over the stone and then ground grew it for a year to get the roots to really grab onto the stone.

The tree certainly grew while I was in Thousand Oaks, but it didn’t grow very well. None of my deciduous material did. So, three growing seasons largely wasted were followed by another of the tree recovering some health. Then in spring of 2014 I started to think about moving the tree along a little.

The tree has come along nicely during the 2014 growing season, and in my next post I’ll show it being repotted and some pot choices.