Acer leucoderme Bonsai

Acer leucoderme is a variety of Maple trees that I think could be used for Bonsai. The tree pretty much grows in the South Eastern states and is not very common to find them. They are seldom seen for sale in any great number, there are a few mail order companies that do offer them. I have seen two posts on them being used for Bonsai but the person who made the posts did not follow up on either posts so it is unknown how their projects turned out. I am going to try a 5 tree forest project using nursery grown trees. I just fell in love with this species after seeing some on a website. The fall colors are off the charts in bright orangey red colors. The trunk color is a chalky white color hence the name “Chalk Maple”. I tried to order some trees in January but the website would not allow me to do so at that time, they did want to ship the trees in winter for fear they may get stuck somewhere and die during shipment. April arrived and they were now available to order so I placed an order for 5, the trees were shipped on 4-18-2021 and the box weighs 19 pounds. Some people think these trees are a subset of Sugar Maples but the leaves are much smaller around 4-5 inches long and 2-3 inches wide. Leaf reduction techniques should help reduce the leaves even further. They tree is hardy up to zone 5 in the United States.

Acer leucoderme

Common Name: Chalk Maple, Whitebark Maple, Pale-Bark Maple and Sugar Maple