Well, we got the tree yesterday, and between hubby and I we managed to get it out of the bed, and planted it today. Ended up deciding it looked best up against the courtyard wall, so Filigree was able to stay where it was. :) I plan to remove a bunch of the smaller branches near where the trunk forks and slowly raise up the canopy over the next few years. I currently have the soaker hose running from the rain barrel to thoroughly wet it. I was not able to get anywhere near to the core of the root ball, just too tightly packed and of course, surrounded entirely by clay. :( Plus, with planting it this time of year, I didn't want to shock the tree anymore than I already had. I managed to find the root flare without destroying too many surface roots, but I will have to work at it a bit more in the days to come. There were several smaller roots that were starting to wrap around the trunk; got those loosened and pulled away, but I'm hoping there's nothing else like that further inside. Pulled off most of the burlap, but again, just could not get to it all - lots of smaller roots growing through it. Is there anything else I could/should have done? As you can see, the tree is in excellent shape, and I know it would have been in that pot for several years, based on how much roots were outside the burlap, so it obviously has done ok up to this point. We are going to be in the 90s and dry for the next week anyway. How often/much should I water it? Thankfully the courtyard soil is fairly nice and loamy, I've never had drainage issues, and we did plant it just a little high.
Nice big bright tree Andrea,wish I'd put something like that in when I started out instead of the Bloodgoods,what is it? thought you were buying that Seiryu.Is that your Filligree alongside?..it's got a really attractive shape already :)
See you went for the Seiryu good choice but you might want to re think where you have planted the tree. These are the most prolific growers i have certainly come accross in the the past 12 years in which i have been growing JM, with over 100+ different varieties i have nothing which even comes close to the speed and spread of this cultivar.The pics are of one of my trees which came from a 10ltr container in 2010 (yes four years ago this was planted out) the first pic was in September 2012,the second pic was June 2013 and the last pic is today!! don't have any pics before this didn't realise it would grow this quick so never took any photos till 2012. As you can see these grow for fun and both my Seiryus were clipped heavy last year and you cant even tell. When i first planted this out it was four feet away from the fence it now measures 6"x6"x 9" accross and is growing into my Burgundy lace and i also had to move a S/Aureum 8ft away to give it room. The back is completely on the fence as you can see, and is very dence bushy and compact. I knew this would grow but i was looking at around 10 years before i got to this stage and i don't want to clip the back because i feel this would give an untidy appearence to the overall shape and beauty of the tree, what i will be doing is after the fall it will be lifted and brought forward another 6ft as i am just in the process of lifting another large section of the lawn to make way for this and a few more acers which are ready to be planted out. Hope you don't mind me saying this but seeing you have just planted out and it does look close to your house wall, it can easily be removed if you feel it would be benificial for you and the tree for the future. Perhaps swap places with your filligree and give it room to spread? Still a nice looking tree though and the fall colours are something else!!!!
Roebuk, thanks for the feedback and words of caution, I do appreciate it. :) I am aware that this tree is a fast grower, and will require yearly pruning more than likely. I am ok with this. In fact, at this point I do want that as my goal is for the canopy to cover most, if not all, of the courtyard area (9ft x 12ft), and if it ends up growing taller than the eaves, that's ok too. There were several Seiryu of roughly the same size to choose from, but this one seemed the nicest, with the biggest caliper, and many of the upper branches already had a curve to them which made it 'fit' nicely with where/how I wanted to plant it (ie, I could situate it so that the main branches were already growing away from the house). One factor, well, actually two now that I think about it, that will help somewhat retard the growth of the tree is our weather, both summer and winter, and the location in which it is planted. Our summers are VERY hot, with many days around, or over, 38C, and our sun is very intense during this time. Winters can be equally harsh, with temps ranging from 0C to -15C or even colder at times, and that's before windchill. Oh, and did I mention the wind? First thing I'd change about the climate here, the seemingly never-ending wind... Ugh. So, I expect some die-back in both seasons for these reasons. Also, our house faces WNW; in winter especially, those winds funnel very nicely into the courtyard, adding to the cold and possibility of die-back. So, there will be some 'compensation' as it were for the excessive growth of this tree. Because of the wind factor in winter, I definitely plan to wrap the trunk and the larger branches, and quite possibly will place one of my large wood benches on end in front of the trunk for an added wind break (my largest bench is a good 3ft across and nearly 6ft long). Right now, you can't see 'through' the courtyard from the living room window because of the many lower branches, so I also plan to 'limb up' (is that the correct term?) the tree over time, removing the lower branches as the canopy grows and expands. My initial plan was to erect lattice over the garden portion of the courtyard since it gets full sun nearly all day in summer, but then I realized I could kill two birds with one stone by getting this tree (I've wanted a Seiryu for a while now, and who could say no to half price!). :)
No problem just thought i would let you know what a prolific grower these are, and i will swear that this one of mine is still growing from from when i replied to your last thread, you can actually visually see the growth if you look at the tree every other day there is a definate marked spurt in the branch and leaf structure. Good luck with this and i hope you acheive the desired effect you are looking for.
