Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum (ACERACEAE)
Planting and Growing Japanese Maple Trees
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow Japanese maple trees in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and nuts of Japanese maple trees
- Growing conditions for Japanese maple
- When to plant Japanese maple
- How to plant Japanese maple
- How to prune Japanese maple
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of Japanese maple
- Landscape uses of Japanese maple
- Pest and disease control for Japanese maple
Growing Japanese Maple Trees
Many varieties and cultivars of graceful, slow-growing, open, deciduous shrubby trees, to 50 ft. (15 m) tall, with smooth, light green, red, round or oval, toothed, deeply cut leaves, to 4 in. (10 cm) long, tinged red in spring and turning scarlet or yellow in autumn. Beautiful branching habit.
Many attractive cultivars and hybrids have strongly colored leaves and exaggerated tooth formation that add to their beauty. Such cultivars may very sensitive to heat and drying conditions, especially in hot-summer climates. Provide sun protection and water misters as required.
Common cultivars include Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum,’ ‘Bloodgood’, ‘Dissectum’, ‘Garnet’, ‘Ornatum’, and ‘Red Dragon.’
Japanese Maple Planting and Care Guide
Flowers and Seeds
Many tiny, yellow green, red, purple, variegated flowers in early spring, borne in dangling clusters, form typical 2-winged seed in autumn.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 5–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich–average. 5.5–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun to partial shade. Space according to desired effect.
Maples planted in hot-summer regions require shade and protection from drying winds.
Proper Care
Moderate. Keep evenly damp. Fertilize in spring and autumn. Mulch. Prune sparingly in autumn. Protect from sun, wind. Propagate by cuttings, layering, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, shrub borders, containers, walls in cottage, small-space, woodland gardens. Subject to leaf-fringe drying. Chlorosis susceptible.
Common Species of Maple
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- Acer buergeranum, trident maple
- Acer campestre, hedge maple
- Acer cappadocicum, coliseum maple
- Acer carpinifolium, hornbeam maple
- Acer glabrum, Rocky Mountain maple
- Acer griseum, paperbark maple
- Acer japonicum, full-moon maple
- Acer lobelii, Lobel maple
- Acer macrophyllum, big-leaved maple
- Acer mandshuricum, Manchurian maple
- Acer negundo, box elder
- Acer nigrum, black maple
- Acer palmatum, Japanese maple
- Acer pensylvanicum, striped maple
- Acer platanoides, Norway maple
- Acer pseudoplatanus, sycamore maple
- Acer rubrum, red maple
- Acer saccharinum, silver maple
- Acer saccharum, sugar maple
- Acer spicatum, mountain maple
- Acer tantaricum, Amur maple
- Acer tschonoskii, Tschonoski maple
About Maples
The Acer genus includes about 200 species of highly varied, broad-leaved, deciduous trees, including both small landscape trees and those with great stature. They are native to the northern hemisphere’s temperate zone of North America, Europe, and Asia.
All maples are hardy and grow best in cold-winter areas that experience at least 1,000 hours of winter chill at temperatures below 40°F (4°C).
Maples are prized for their narrow or round-crowned form and their foliage, which colors beautifully in autumn in shades of bronze, gold, red, and yellow. Many cultivars also have been developed with foliage that is bronze, purple, or red throughout the season.
Maples generally are slow-growing, long-lived trees with dense foliage that reach sizes ranging from 6 ft. (1.8 m) tall for shrublike species to 100 ft. (30 m) or more for the largest species.
They vary in their resistance to pests and diseases, with aphid, borer, and scale or canker, tar spot, and verticillium wilt being the frequent causes of infestation and infection.
Many different cultivars may be used in a landscape. Choose from among some of the most popular maple species above, listed at left.
Planting and Caring for Maples
Maples and box elders grow as low ground covers, as shrubs, and as small and large trees, depending on their species. All are broad-leaved and deciduous, with hand-shaped, lobed, and pointed leaves and distinctive, two-winged seeds that carry great distances in the wind. Maples have single and massive or multiple and narrow trunks with many spreading branches.
Plant maples in rich, moist, well-drained soil, either acidic or neutral. Since all landscape trees grow best when planted in unamended soil, test the acid-alkaline balance of your site before you plant. Maples should have soils in the 6.0–7.0 pH range. Choose those species that fit your climate and site.
When planting maples, carefully match the depth of the planting hole to the soil line on the rootball of your tree. Backfill around the rootball with native soil and give the tree ample water for the first few seasons, keeping the soil evenly moist. It may require several seasons for the tree to begin active growth after transplanting.
Maples are the best choice for autumn foliage color in cold-winter climates. Their care needs include regular raking of fallen catkinlike flowers, leaves, and winged seed. Large maples are good shade trees, while those with smaller, more delicate forms are good landscape accents.
Cultivars of the species A. palmatum, Japanese maple, have long been the tree of choice for bonsai and for oriental-themed gardens.