Japanese maple "Benikawa" in snow

Benikawa means red skin or covering (bark in the case of a tree). This is a 2 year old grafted plant I bought last spring. I was not really happy with another coral bark maple that we've had for 3 years a "Sango kaku" (coral tower) which is becoming fairly common - at least I see it in almost every nursery including the big box stores. The trouble with the Sango kaku was that the leaf tips burned easily and I planted it in too exposed a location. The winter winds would whip around the tree, keeping it stunted. It grew less than a foot in all the time we've had it.

The Benikawa's bark seems to be a brighter red and it is a vigorous grower. It had only two sprigs of no more than 4" when I bought it but in one season it's grown to more than 2 feet tall. I do like the look of the leaves on the Sango kaku though.

This weekend's heavy wet snow was brutal on the evergreens. The arborvitae, some of the small pines, yews and junipers were knocked down. I spent part of a morning knocking snow off the rhodies and whatever else needed to be released from the pressing weight. I'm afraid many will need a heavy trimming and support to become an upright plant again.

Blogger is taking forever so I'll post the photo later.