Can we please add a Japanese maple forum or just a maples forum to the site? There are a lot of Japanese maple growers and collectors out there and maybe we can create a place for them to gather and chat about Japanese maples here on garden.org

Here! Here!!

I would suggest starting a thread in the Tree forum specific to Japanese maples to find out how much traffic it might generate. I would find a thread interesting that showed photos of specific cultivars and how folks have sited them and underplanted them.

Deb I figured if Hoyas deserve their own forum why not have one for maples. Traffic would be a lot less likely to come to a thread vs a forum where they can start their own threads maybe with questions or threads about fall color, variegation, seedlings, grafting methods, vendor deals, ect. It may take a month or 2 to start seeing it pick up but if you build it they will come. I would also suggest a forum for conifers too there is a huge following for those also. @dave what do you think can we get a maples forum?

I don't think there would be enough traffic to sustain one and when that happens, those forums get deleted. Best to start a distinct thread as mentioned, in the tree forum, after all, they are trees.

I don't even know what a hoya is (beside the point I know). My thought on establishing a plant-specific maple forum, though, is I would be much more likely to browse the general tree forum for threads of interest, but perhaps not so much one just for maples. I find the plant-specific forums to be a bit cliquish, although in a polite way - they always answer my specific questions but I'm never quite comfortable poking around. Again, I'd encourage a couple of maple specific threads within the tree forum to see what the interest might be. I could be way off on this, just my two cents.

I'm not sure what I'd do without my sempervivum, daylily and hibiscus forums. Sue when a forum get deleted what happens to all the content within it? Is it gone also? Our plant database and wealth of info within the forums are the main draws to garden.org so why delete anything. I think we are still growing here at garden.org and just want to appeal to a border audience. Honestly it wouldn't matter to me either way if a maple forum gets created or not because I'm not a maple head but what harm would it be to try it? Is it a lot of work to make a new forum? If you don't think there is interest just google "Japanese maple forum" and look how many sites have already discovered this niche.

Dave can tell you what he does with any threads. I would think they get distributed to other appropriate forums. It doesn't happen often but on occasion admin will clean house.
You can try starting a Japanese Maple thread in the Tree forum, add photos and chat and if it takes off and is sustainable on its own, then it would be worth asking for a separate forum, IMHO.

Thanks everyone for filling me in. I just seen the interest in Japanese maples on here and elsewhere and figured I'd throw it out there. I enjoy seeing this community grow and do my part in recruiting new members, 6 so far. I'd like to see us keep moving forward by attracting new people and making more plant-specific forums for the collectors out there. Figs4fun closed down and we could have scooped up those members if we had a fig forum, many went to gardenweb or growingfruit.org until finally ourfigs was created. plant-specific collectors have a passion which is often not shared by there spouse or even others in there area. That's where we need to come into play to unite all these people in one place and maybe introduce them to some new things along the way. That's just how I feel but thanks again for everyone's input.

Daniel, I did take a look at your plant list and was amazed at all the figs you have (or want to have). I'm more of a catch-all gardener, so don't share your passion for a single plant. I do encourage you to start up a couple threads on Japanese maples in the tree forum as you clearly have an interest in them. I have a bunch of J. maples myself but don't consider myself a collector or officianato of any sort. I also have native big-leaf and vine maples. It's all good.

The "bad" thing about creating a new forum that is a subset of an already established forum is that gardeners in the established forum are suddenly "eliminated" from automatic viewing of the new forum's specialized subject. Their happenstance exposure to it is gone. Mildly interested gardeners need to re find the new subject elsewhere, and (incredibly, IMO) the extra few clicks are a turn off. Proofs of this phenomenon are right on this forum where people have asked Dave to custom fit garden.org machinery to their individual liking, so they can save a few clicks, because they don't like the work-around that takes an extra few seconds.

So to put this abstract concept in concrete terms:
I like Japanese maples. I like to learn about them despite the fact that they are not hardy here, and only a very select few have been able to keep them in our climate as small shrubs, let alone small trees. So my casual interest is even less than mild, but I like being able to quickly skim info/conversation about them that catch my eye, and consequently I might someday be spurred into the extra work it would take for me to overwinter them here. But I am not interested enough to go to another forum to check it out. So:

ediblelandscapingsc said:I'm not a maple head but what harm would it be to try it?

Then how would you know there is enough sustainable interest for a Japanese maple forum here at NGA? The harm is alienating the mildly interested, by cutting their exposure to the subject.

ediblelandscapingsc said:Traffic would be a lot less likely to come to a thread vs a forum where they can start their own threads...

Disagree! Only brand new traffic might be more likely to participate.
All of the start up interest in the new forum would be from the Tree and Shrub forum. If there is enough, then a forum could be sustainable and any new traffic would help to keep it going. You make in sound like one can't start new threads on the T&S forum, but would be able to on a JM forum. (I think you mean it would be more inviting? Again, let me roll my eyes. This is way overthinking, IMO.)

You would have to have a thread promoting the new Japanese maple forum within the Tree and Shrub forum anyway, so how is this more advantageous than simply gauging the interest first with a thread(s), and then go to the trouble of forum disruption when it seems there is a need?

I don't frequent enough forums to know about any cliquishness, but creating such additional forums does separate people. If there is good reason, then great. But we really don't need to create further unintentional ignorance of other gardening subjects needlessly. I much prefer fewer (and bigger) happy families, than so many little groups whose unintentional results are to separate people.

Rick do you not like the lilies forum? Would you like skimming through a forum called "flowers" just to find conversations about lilies? Do you feel alienated by the lilies forum not being called the flowers forum or would you feel more alienated if you and a group of your friends didn't have the lilies forum and your post would get lost in a bunch of threads not relevant to your interest?

How do I know there is enough sustainable interest for a Japanese maple forum?
The short answer is I don't. What is the magic number of monthly post to be considered "sustainable"? I have many friends that like maples and a few that collect them. I'm not a rose head either but I think there is interest in roses.

Rick you said "All of the start up interest in the new forum would be from the Tree and Shrub forum" well I Disagree! I would promote it on other sites and my youtube channel to get new members to join. I would also treemail my garden.org friends that like maples and let them know about it. Besides that just a forum tilted "Japanese maples" would create interest like the recent hydrangea forum did. I didn't get any notification or read about it in a thread. It was just there one day and I'm so happy it was added. Now look at it growing

Whats the big deal with everyone so against starting a new forum? I just want the site to continue to grow and create an inviting place for all the maple growers and collectors to gather, share thoughts, ask questions, and post photos.

Rick you said " Again, let me roll my eyes "
WOW I don't know how you meant it but it's wrote as if you are calling me or my idea stupid. My intentions wasn't to aggravate anyone but for some reason you come across as aggravated I honestly feel a little alienated just for asking if we could have a Japanese maples forum now.

I hope I did not come across as being 'against' a new forum. My thought was, and continues to be, to start a couple maple related threads within the tree forum and see how much interest is generated. I'll go ahead and do so and see what happens.

I would read about maples. My collection of maples is growing. Have had a few fails and would have been nice to ask about cultivars here. I don't follow the tree and shrub form just because it's so vague.

If there are enough growers of Japanese maples on here, I too would love to have a Japanese Maples Forum. Though I have only one generic Bloodgood seedling, I am interested in other varieties. I would LOVE to see pics of Japanese maples of different varieties and learn about the characteristics of each variety. I am interested to learn about its cultivation. All of these topics if posted in the general Trees Forum would be very hard to find and may get lost in the other topics. But I am a novice and will probably just visit the forum and view the content and not contributing much. If there is a growing trend and growing interest in Japanese maples, I think it may attract more new people here if there is such a forum dedicating to Japanese maples.

I would follow a forum on maples.

I would like to learn more about my always struggling, Japanese Maple.

Actually. why not make it all maples?

I have quite a few...

Acer ginnala, Acer griseum, Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood', Acer palmatum 'Carll's Corner', Acer palmatum 'Okushimo', Acer palmatum 'Ryusen', Acer palmatum 'Sango-kaku', Acer palmatum 'Sumi Nagashi', Acer palmatum 'Wolff', Acer palmatum var. dissectum 'Waterfall', Acer pseudosieboldianum 'Kumoi Nishiki', Acer rubrum, Acer rubrum, Acer saccharinum, Acer saccharinum, Acer saccharum, Acer saccharum 'Parke', Acer truncatum, Acer x pseudosieboldianum 'Hasselkus' Northern Glow®, Acer x pseudosieboldianum 'IslNW' North Wind®

I'd be happy with a maples forum there are so many beautiful ones out there why not have one place to showcase and talk about them all

I'd enjoy it though I only have five of them.