Something Beautiful - Rapid River Magazine

R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E
thoreau’s garden
The Flowering Maple
W
e’ve always had a flowering
maple in our window since
the days that we lived in a
five-flight walk-up in Manhattan
back in the late 60s. The
plants are extremely popular for pots as
they flower over a long period of time and
can also spend productive summers in the
garden as splendid bedding plants.
The generic name is Abutilon, an
Arabic name for a species of mallow, which
these flowers closely resemble. The common
name refers to the shape of the leaf for
they closely resemble maple leaves both in
size and shape.
Flower colors include
coral pink, deep red, deep
rose, pure white, lemon
yellow, and orange.
One species, Abutilon theophrasti,
known variously as the velvet leaf, the butter-print,
the pie-marker, or China jute,
is a naturalized wildflower — often called
weedy — found growing across the United
States and considered an important fiber
plant in northern China. The whole plant
is velvety with single inch-wide yellow
flowers and an unusually shaped fruit that is
often used in dried flower arrangements.
But those grown in windows are usually
called Abutilon hybridum, a species
that has given rise to an unusual number
of hybrids of many colors and qualities that
include bloom for most of the year. Flower
colors include coral pink, deep red, deep
rose, pure white, lemon yellow, and orange.
Plants can be set outside after frost
danger is past and bloom throughout the
summer wanting only a spot in full or
partial sun and plenty of water. Then as
fall approaches, they can be dug up and put
back into pots, pruned back by at least twothirds,
and proceed to bloom in a sunny
window for most of the winter. At least five
BY PETER LOEWER
hours of sun and night temperatures
of between 50 and 60°F are
needed for the best winter flowers.
When plants are not flowering
during the winter, it’s best
to keep the soil almost dry, just
enough water to prevent wilting
of the leaves.
Plants should be fertilized
every two or three weeks
throughout the summer and
benefit particularity from any
commercial product from the
Box Stores fish, as long as you
follow directions.
Abutilon metgapotamicum or
the trailing abutilon is from Brazil
and will survive outdoors in the
far South and southern California.
‘Variegata’ is an especially fine
cultivar with yellow and green
mottled foliage and yellow flowers
with a red calyx, perfectly suited
for growing in hanging baskets.
Abutilon pictum ‘Thompsonii’ is originally
from Brazil and bears bright orange
flowers with mottled yellow and green foliage.
The leaf colors in this case are caused
by a transmissible virus for if a variegated
shoot is grafted on a green-leafed stock
the whole plant soon becomes variegated.
This particular plant is also a good subject
for becoming a standard tree. Start with a
small plant of only one shoot and put it in
a 3-inch pot, tying the stem to a foot-long
bamboo cane or stick that you have inserted
in the dirt at the pot’s edge.
Use one loop of soft cord about the
stem and one loop on the stake so the stem
is never crushed. When the flowering maple
grows to about 10 inches, move it to a 6-
inch pot, adding a longer length of stake.
Now remove all the side shoots, leaving just
one at the tip of the stem.
Illustration by Peter Loewer
As the plant approaches 2 feet, move it
to an 8-inch pot — remember, all this time
you have been forcing the plant upward, the
roots have been growing, too. Now pinch
off the terminal bud to force the plant into
bushy growth. The stem will develop a
woody look and you will have a beautiful
flowering tree.
peter Loewer,
shown here,
examining the
blossoms of
early-blooming
Lenten roses, is a
well-known writer
and botanical artist who has written and
illustrated more than twenty-five books on
natural history over the past thirty years.
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2 September 2010 — Rapid RiveR aRtS & CULtURe Magazine — Vol. 14, No. 1
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