How do I choose the right Japanese maple?
Considerations: color, height, width, structure, amount of sunshine, ground or container grown
There are literally hundreds of different Japanese maples. The three most often associated groups of maples are Acer palmatum, Acer japonicum, and Acer shirasawanum. Acer japonicum and shirasawanum are two groups that contain only maples in a tree form and none that are considered weeping lace-leaf maples. For the lace-leaf cultivars Acer palmatum dissectum is the answer; and within this category there are literally dozens of cultivars known as weeping lace-leaf maples.
Color separates the lace-leaf [dissectum] maples into three basic categories--red, green and variegated. There are many different red lace-leaf maples and picking the right one is important to achieve the overall effect you want in your garden or patio. There are also numerous green and variegated lace-leaf maples.
Collecting Japanese maples can become an addiction, in a nice sense that is. If you really want to learn about this fascinating subject, we recommend the book Japanese Maples by J. D. Vertrees. The 3rd edition is the is the most recent and it was published after the death of Mr. Vertrees with revisions and new information provided by Peter Gregory. This wonderful book is a must for collectors. The book is available from Timber Press, Portland, Oregon or you can find it at Amazon.com.
The best way for us to express our love for the hundreds of Japanese maples is to quote Mr. Vertrees from his book. "I admit prejudice, but I feel this group of plants has one of the greatest ranges of use and beauty of any horticultural plants in use today. The diversity of size, color, form, shape and utility is so great that, when Japanese maples are selected wisely, they will fit almost any need. We do not think of them as flowering shrubs... the lack of bold blossoms is more than offset by the great variation of leaf color and shape which these plants can add to the color of the garden landscape." (p. 23)
In his book, J.D. Vertrees goes on to describe the wonderful colors changing with the seasons. Whereas, a flowering shrub may be showy for a few weeks each year, Japanese maples can change colors from anticipated new spring growth to lasting summer color and finally to conclude their cycle with exquisite fall brilliance. Again Vertrees writes ". . . any forms of Acer palmatum and A. japonicum adapt quite well to bonsai formation. All the cultivars as well as the species and its varieties have been use for this purpose. Japanese maples respond so well to pruning and shaping that they are an excellent choice for bonsai. . . that there is such a great variation in leaf size, form, color, and texture, as well as plant size, shape, and vigor that one may find a plant or group of similar plants to fill almost any need in the garden landscape or containerized patio collection." (p. 26-27)
Of the many hundreds of Japanese maple cultivars we, at Eastfork Nursery, continue to seek out the best of each variety. Of the many red lace-leafs that are available we have selected Red Dragon, Crimson Queen, Tamukeyama and Ever Red for our laceleaf collection. We also continue to look for new cultivars introduced in the trade and apply our own standards to decide whether or not a cultivar is worthy to be added to our inventory. Often two or three Japanese maples may have similar leaves, texture, and structure so that one may be mistaken for another. In this case, we select what we believe to be the best cultivar of the group and that is the one we maintain in our inventory. Our goal is not to have the largest selection of different cultivars, but rather to have the best rare and unusual cultivars.
We try and provide our customers with enough information about our plants to allow them to make the correct choice for their particular garden landscape or patio needs. We want to provide to our customers, not only the information about the changing colors of the tree, but also the growth, structure and height of the maple in 10 years.
As we continue to expand our inventory and our website, we hope you will add us to your favorites list and come back periodically to see what is new and exciting here at Eastfork Nursery.