Adam,

The twigs on vine maple are fairly thick (2 - 3 mm), the internodes are not
real short (1 - 2 cm), and the leaves are fairly large (3 - 7 cm) - even in
a bonsai pot. As a result the tree looks in better scale if it is larger -
perhaps 50 cm or better. In contrast is Japanese maple (A. palmatum)
seedlings where the twigs are often 1 mm, the internodes can reduce to 5 mm,
and the leaves can be easily reduced to 2 - 3 cm which allows a much smaller
bonsai to be made in scale. Of course there are dwarf cultivars of A.
palmatum where the twigs, internodes, and leaves are 1/3 to 1/2 this size
which can be made into even smaller bonsai. A vine maple could be made into
a small bonsai, but I feel that the larger twigs, internodes, and leaves
would not look that good.

Marty

(MartyWeiser) wrote:

but the growth is a bit
coarse so medium to large trees are better.

Could you explain further what you mean by the above?

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