Acer palmatum 'Fjellheim' or 'Sango kaku' dwarf

**Daniel Mosquin** · #1 March 12th, 2003, 03:10 PM

The following was received via email:

Quote:

I'm not having much luck locating these cultivars:

Acer palmatum 'Fjellheim'
Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku' dwarf

Any suggestions? Thanks.

**HortLine** · #2 March 18th, 2003, 01:42 PM

Acer Sango Kaku at least is obtainable wholesale from Kato's Nursery, oneof the biggest suppliers around. Any good garden centre should be able to order this for you.

Themapleman · #3 September 5th, 2003, 10:42 AM

If you are looking for the best dwarf form of a Sango Kaku you want a Aka kawa hime. From my experience the Fjellheim is more leggy and requires more pruning to stay dwarf. What size are you looking for ? At the present time I am out of Aka kawa hime untill Spring and then I will have liners if you are interested.

stephen2602 · #4 September 26th, 2003, 02:47 AM

I am wondering about what would happen with a Sango Kaku that was pruned to remain as a dwarf type tree. As the Sango Kaku gets older the base of it loses it beautiful red colour that is prodominant in Winter. I found a couple of trees that must be over fourty years old that were about three or four metres high and it took me some time to discover they were actually Sango Kaku.

I would think that the Fjellheim might be better as a dwarf than the Sango Kaku if nurtured the correct way..

Another thing is that I have found that Sango Kaku tends to revert a fair bit if put under stress.

But then again, I am no expert.... I just want to be.

Stephen

#5 November 13th, 2003, 07:16 PM

'Fjellheim' is a dwarf form of Sango kaku. "Sango kaku dwarf" isn't a true cultivar name, I'll bet. There is another Sango dwarf called 'Winter Flame'. Our own nursery has these grafted, and they are expected to be offered in April of 2004, and I know at least one other source for 'Winter Flame', but I suspect I'm not supposed to mention at least our own name. If you simply go to a search engine such as Google.com and search on acer palmatum 'winter flame' or acer palmatum fjellheim, you will get hits for the sources in about half a second.

**Daniel Mosquin** · #6 November 13th, 2003, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

... but I suspect I'm not supposed to mention at least our own name...

I don't mind nurseries mentioning (promoting) that they have stock of a particular plant, as long as it is in response to a request by someone seeking that exact plant.

#7 January 7th, 2004, 04:35 PM

From Southern California and recently visited the Getty Museum which has wonderful gardens. They used this type of maple to line the entry up to the museum and the trees were carefully pruned and monitored while growing so that the trunks of the trees are straight (in fact if you stand at one end and look at the first tree you can't see the 20 or so others behind it because they are perfectly lined up) and the trees do not branch out until 6-8 feet above the ground. They also peel or strip the bark in winter to reveal vibrant coral colored bark. We are now looking at planting these types of maple in our backyard which we will be re-landscaping soon. How laborious is it to grow this type of tree in this manner and is this tree suited for the Cailf climate (I can only assume it is given their presence at the Getty).

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

PPC_SPC · #8 April 12th, 2006, 07:53 PM

"They also peel or strip the bark in winter to reveal vibrant coral colored bark. "

No, that is the color of the bark! It's brilliantly red in the winter. Any tree that has had it's bark stripped will die.
Kelly

**neko musume** · #9 April 12th, 2006, 10:29 PM

hello,

if you are speaking of the trees that are near the bottom of the hill where you catch the tram up to the getty, they look more like crape myrtle to me. and i've never seen their bark any shade of red.

i will take a picture the next time i'm up there and post it.

the only two japanese maples i'm certain the museum have, include a sango kaku in a large pot at the entrance of the garden proper, and a red dragon on the side of a walkway that leads down to the garden.

also, as to how well they are suited to southern californian weather, the only mature sango kaku tree i've seen ( over 20 feet ) planted in the ground, in the full sun, in the parking lot of a pasadena nursery, seems to be awfully resilient despite the severe heat waves we have here some years.

i will shoot a photo of that tree also, to let you know if i have the cultivar correct.

my small one gallon sango kaku also does surprisingly well here, except it does receive shade from about 2 pm, and it's bark has never acheived the brilliant red i see in photos, but rather a dull red which is more pronounced on the side of the tree that faces the sun.

^_^

n. musume

**Layne Uyeno** · #10 April 23rd, 2006, 12:36 PM

Hi,

Does anyone know how "Fjellheim" is pronounced? Is the "F" silent? Is the "j" pronounced like a "y"? Is it "hee-m" or "hai-m"?

Thanks,

Layne

Laurie · #11 April 23rd, 2006, 09:11 PM

From my reading, 'Fjellheim' is Norwegian. Without trying to describe how this would be pronounced in Norwegian, it seems that in English 'fj' in"fjell," which means mountain, would be pronouced as in 'fjord' with a soft 'fy' sound. According to one English-Norwegian dictionary, "hi" is translated as "hei" so that should suffice as a guide to the pronunciation of "heim," which means home.

From a brief search, 'Aka Kawa Hime' seems to mean Princess of the Red River in Japanese.

sebastian · #12 July 21st, 2006, 07:35 PM

I just purchased a Sango Kaku today and I was searching for some more information on it and stumbled onto this forum. The tree is about 6 feet in height and I planted it next to a small pond. At the nursery, I had two Sango Kaku trees to choose from. One was pretty well pruned but had long top limbs that extended out like an umbrella. The second one, the one I chose, wasn't pruned as well but had a lot of potential. I'll prune to shape it later this year. I forgot to ask how big it gets, which is the reason for my search. 20 feet is more than I wanted, but since it grows slowly and it will only get partial sunlight, I won't have to worry about keeping it "small." Since it's a young tree, the base and all the limbs are a nice coral color. This will be a fun one to watch over the coming years.

I almost made it to the Getty a couple of years ago but chose to visit the La Brea Tar Pits and the Page Museum instead. Well, next time.

majohnson · #13 July 22nd, 2006, 08:31 AM

Greer Garden has both of the maples. The 'Sango kaku' is this months special and is 20% off. I just received my "Fjellheim" it is a very nice tree and packing was 1st class!!!

**paion** · #14 July 24th, 2006, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurie

Without trying to describe how this would be pronounced in Norwegian, it seems that in English 'fj' in"fjell," which means mountain, would be pronouced as in 'fjord' with a soft 'fy' sound. According to one English-Norwegian dictionary, "hi" is translated as "hei" so that should suffice as a guide to the pronunciation of "heim," which means home.

"Hei" in "fjellheim" sounds similar to the American "hey". "-heim" is used as a suffix, so "fjellheim" translates into "alps", "mountains" or "mountain range".

Edit: Fjellheim is also a fairly common surname in Norway.