A Primer on How to Select your Japanese Maple Tree

A Primer on How to Select your Japanese Maple Tree

It's progressing in the year, and some parts of the country are already in a Japanese Maple planting weather, while others have a while to wait. Remember you want to plant dormant trees as early as your weather permits, to allow them the opportunity to put out root growth before the top growth begins to grow and uses up the majority of the tree's energy. Many of you don't know this, but as soon as the soil temperature reaches 42F, roots begin to grow! So you won't see any activity taking place at the trees above ground branches, but that doesn't mean the tree is till completely dormant!
I'll be posting more and more articles on Japanese Maples here since they are among my top 3 favorite trees. I know we don't all think alike, but this is such a beautiful and can become such a valuable addition to your landscape, that I'm moving it to the top for now.
I invite your questions here and would love to open up a nice dialogue on Japanese Maples and their culture.
So for starters, here is part of an article taken from the Leaves and Petals business Facebook page. Our goal is to get the information on to you!

Selecting the proper Japanese maple Tree for your garden or landscape depends on 5 factors: hardiness, location sun or shade, mature size, type lace leaf or palmatum and preferred leaf color.

Tip 1) Choose a variety that is rated to be cold hardy in your zone. If you are planting it in a pot or container above ground choose a variety that is at least two cold zones hardier than your zone. to learn more about Japanese maple cold hardiness click here

Tip 2) Determine how large you can allow your tree to grow. With a little pruning once or twice a year Japanese Maples are very easy to maintain a specific size. But if you prefer to not prune, you will want to choose a variety that will naturally only grow to the size that will work in the allotted space both height and width.

Tip 3) Where are going to plant it, sun or shade? Most Japanese Maples prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. Planting on the east side of a fence or building provides the best environment for Japanese Maples. Avoid all day full sun locations especially in southern states. Japanese Maples can live in that environment, but usually leaf scorch will occur when temperatures rise above 90 degrees and the sun is shining directly on them.

Tip 4) Japanese Maples generally come in 2 types:
Dissectum (aka weeping or lace leaf) or Palmatum (aka upright or standard).
Most common to the trade are the lace leaf types, most have red or purple leaves with a few green leafed varieties. I'm not aware of any variegated lace leaf varieties.

Palmatum types are about 60% red or purple leafed, 30% green leafed and 10% other (variegated, gold, multi-colored) . Most lace leaf types are weeping varieties, (have you seen the new 'Hana Matoi'? A 'to-die' for tree!) although a few upright lace leafs do exist. Inaba Shidare is a good upright red lace leaf and Seiryu is a good green upright variety.

One of the most important factors when considering which type to grow is sun exposure. The lace leaf types typically cannot tolerate as much direct sun and wind as palmatum types. The leaves are much more delicate do to the thickness of the leaf and the width of the leaf lobes. Planting a lace leaf Japanese Maple in full sun is not advised and another selection should be considered.

The upright red type varieties that are well known for their ability to tolerate sunnier locations are Bloodgood and Emperor 1.
Osakazuki and Omure yama are good green uprights with great fall color. Red Select and Ever Red are said to be the more tolerant to direct sun and Virdis and Green Mist are good green varieties for sunnier locations. Please keep in mind the mentioned varieties are more tolerant of sunnier locations, but still may show burning on the leaf edges.

Tip 5) What leaf color do you prefer? red, green or variegated. In general, Green leafed varieties can tolerate sunnier and hotter exposure than red leafed or variegated varieties. Green leafed varieties grow faster and larger. Variegated varieties prefer shady locations.

Keep on the lookout for more information on these beautiful trees! I'll do my best to have everything you need to know about Japanese Maples (as a beginner) before we get too drenched in the season. Happy Gardening!