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| I've been learning alot about the Acer truncatum (Shantung maple) in general, specifically 'Fire Dragon'. While it seems that it's most loved in hot south-central states like Texas, OK, etc, where it colors better and redder than most, to me, IT'S JUST A NEAT TREE and I'd like one, or two. It appears that, cold-hardiness wise, it would survive here in Columbus, Ohio, but would it do well here? Sooner's sells the Fire Dragon and the straight A. truncatum as well. Nurseries here only seem to sell the 'Pacific Sunset' and 'Norwegian Sunset' truncatum x platanoides hybrids, and I'd rather stay away from anything with a Norway Maple parentage. Has anyone in a climate similar to mine been successful with either the "straight" truncatum, or a Fire Dragon? |
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| Joe, I'm Zone 6b in Northwest Arkansas. My summers are hotter than yours, and you have more snow in winter, but otherwise pretty similar. We have a Fir Dragon Shantung planted in Dec 2007. It has done pretty well, though has not grown as fast as claimed by the originator. We typically get one growth flush a year in spring, but occasionally a second in July. Probable has averaged about 18-22"/yr, and is now about 12' tall and wide. It has colored well the last 3 years or so, but is always about the last tree to color well past the first freezes. Ours has experienced the low 20's/upper teens before color at times. Seems to be much more about day length than temperature for this one. It also leafs out fairly early in the spring and has been subjected to freezes every year but one, but these have caused little to no damage to the new shoots. Our tree has been subjected to sub-zero F temps during Jan 2010, and in Jan/Feb 2011, with a low of -25F Feb 10, 2011. This did not seem to bother our tree at all, however these sub-zero temps were just a few days. Ours has been a tough tree with a moderate growth rate. It has even been host to native Luna Silk Moth Caterpillars. IF you want to try this tree, then I suggest you plant one in Spring, so that it has the summer and fall to acclimate to your local climate before winter sets in. JMHO. Arktrees |
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| Thanks, Arktrees! Wow...where in Arkansas did you hit 25 below?? We've never even been that cold here (our all-time low was -22F in '94). I wonder if more heat = faster growth for this one? Our summers are hot enough, but usually not like this past summer, where we hit 100 about 5 times. |
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| Joe, Glad to be of help. My home is located in a valley near in the area of Fayetteville Arkansas, which is located in the northwest corner of Arkansas. There was 16-18" of fresh snow on the ground, with near perfect cooling conditions. It was an all time record low temp for the nearest NWS reporting station that morning. The local botanical garden recorded -22 that same morning. The coolest I had previously seen in my life was in the range of -10 to -15 range in the same area, though in 1995 there were a couple -20 readings in Oklahoma about 100 miles away. We also saw -14 the night after the -25. But then it rapidly warmed after that. The nearest NWS reporting station had -18 the same morning, and I am typically 3-7 to occasionally more, degrees F colder on calm nights. BTW, see the picture below. As for the hot summers, many summers we don't reach 100, but the last couple we have had MANY 100 degree days. IMHO, you would likely see similar growth to what I have been seeing with this tree. Another poster on this forum from Kansas has told me that their seedling Shantung's have 1 growth flush a year for them as well, while 2 growth flushes seems to be the norm further south. I assume that it is an adaptation to the shorter growing seasons. Arktrees
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| I was planning on trying this tree in zone 5a. I've grown the straight species and its fine in my zone, my low was only -13 though. Shatung is more hardy then most think. Some have successful grown them in zone 4. I tried to talk Metro Maples into shipping a 1 gallon plant and they refused, somewhat surprising for their very own intro in such a small size. You'd think they'd want to get it in the marketplace now that its patented. Would be nice if sooner adds more but I have a feeling they won't. |
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| whaas, Somewhere on the Metro Maples website the owner talks about licensing to a couple of the larger growers. Greenleaf I believe is one of those, and that seems to be where allot of Sooner Plant Farms trees come from. I certainly don't know the terms of the contract, however he may have legal restrictions on shipping his own produced Fire Dragon Shantung's. Our tree came from the owner himself. He happened to be coming to the area, and brought a few with him. Ours is one of those trees. Hopefully supply will continue to improve. Joe, I neglected to include a picture of our Fire Dragon in fall color. This picture was taken in November 2011 just after a rain that really made the color pop. Note the grass (warm season Bermuda lawn) is very brown already, demonstrating the lateness of the season. Arktrees
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- Posted by lou_midlothian_tx z8 DFW, Tx (My Page) on Thu, Dec 13, 12 at 22:44
| Joe, if you have room and money, try it out from Sooners farm for the fun of it. It looks like Arktrees got better red fall color than I ever did in Texas. Metro Maple farm is not that very large place. I've been there plenty of times and Whas needs to understand that the owner has been mostly running the whole thing most of the time alone before hiring a worker full time 2 or 3 years ago. He's just very busy trying to run the whole business. |
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| I'm not complaining, I'm just surprised. I'm sure there is some valid reason for not shipping, could be something as simple as not wanting to risk issues/time/costs with permits. I sure as hell wouldn't buy the excuse "busy" though. |
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