Tips on choosing and growing Japanese maples

Published 11:08 pm Saturday, April 12, 2008

Japanese maples are among my favorite small trees. I enjoy their delicate emerging leaves, brilliant fall color, sculpted bark and graceful form.

With age most Japanese maple varieties attain a height similar to that of a dogwood. Since Japanese maples have a slow growth rate, it is advisable to provide them with good culture and maintenance. These small trees are tough enough to survive almost any growing situation. Under bad growing conditions, however, they grow pitifully slow.

Japanese maples grow best in an exposure with morning sun and afternoon shade. They grow fairly well in full shade if the shade is not too dense. Avoid planting them in sites that allow them to bake in intense afternoon sun.

A good woodland soil is ideal for Japanese maples. If soil quality is lacking, it should be amended with organic matter like ground pine bark or compost. Like most trees, these maples prosper if the planting hole is much wider than it is deep. Trees should never be set any deeper than they were originally growing in the nursery container.

For best results Japanese maples and other trees should be planted in fall. Right now, however, there is a great selection of Japanese maples in the nurseries around town. If you succumb to temptation and buy a maple, you may want to keep it in a container and enjoy it as a patio tree until fall. As a patio tree, your maple will be easy to water during our extreme summer droughts.

Established Japanese maples are remarkably tolerant of drought. Again, however, if exposed to drought they will grow very slowly. To hasten growth, water regularly and apply a fertilizer like Ironite that is formulated for acid loving plants twice a year.

Since there are close to 200 varieties of Japanese maples, choosing the right one for your garden can be intimidating. Some cultivars simply fry in our Mississippi summer heat. I’ve been testing varieties for quite some time and will share a list of some favorite varieties that have thrived in my own garden here in Meridian.

The Japanese maple varieties are divided into two groups that I will call Regular and Thread-leaf. Regular Japanese maples have fairly fine textured leaves with 7 to 11 sharply pointed lobes. “Bloodgood” is one of the most common of the regular Japanese maple varieties. There are several large attractive “Bloodgood” maples around Meridian. Normally “Bloodgood” retains its lovely reddish purple color all summer. In autumn the color intensifies before the leaves fall.

Every day I look down from my deck at a beautiful “Sango Kaku” or Coral Bark Japanese maple. This wonderful variety has green leaves during the summer, golden to apricot fall color and beautiful coral colored twigs in winter.

If you like variegated plants, the diminutive variegated “Butterfly” Japanese maple may be just your cup of tea. Emerging leaves are pink, cream and gray-green. “Butterfly” is small and slow growing so it makes and ideal patio container tree.

The Thread-leaf or dissected varieties have really finely textured leaves with 7 to 11 extremely slender lobes. Emerging thread-leaf maple leaves look almost like tassels. Most of the thread-leaf varieties have an almost weeping growth habit. With great age they can reach 8 to 10 feet with a spread of 12 feet or more. Three good weeping varieties are “Crimson Queen,” “Tamukeyama” and “Waterfall.” Of the three, “Waterfall” is green during summer, “Crimson Queen” retains a reddish bronze tint and “Tamukeyama” keeps its red purple color. These and others with weeping form look great planted on mounds or hillsides. If your land is flat or your space is narrow, give “Seriyu” a look. The tough tread-leaved “Seriyu” has an upright vase-shaped form. “Seriyu” is a jewel with emerald green summer foliage that turns garnet red in fall.

Due to slow growth, Japanese maples are relatively expensive. However, their lovely foliage, gaudy fall color, attractive bark and striking form provides beauty and interest 52 weeks of the year. I can think of few other trees that contribute so much to the garden.



• Gail Barton is

coordinator of the

Horticulture Technology Program at Meridian

Community College.