'Butterfly' Japanese Maple

Beautiful leaves in fall are a given, but many of these trees have exceptional spring-through-summer crowns of leaves, too.

In the northern part of their range, you can site them in full sun. In their more southern areas, give them more shade as intense sun can burn their leaf tips. In my zone 7 garden, I have two planted under deciduous trees. They are very happy in full shade in summer and some extra sunshine in winter.

Park Seed has several of these lovely Japanese maple trees, any of which would give color and focus to your landscape.

Acer palmatum 'Red Emperor' has that deep purple leaf most of us crave. This color doesn’t wash out with Mother Nature’s heat and humidity. Purple shines throughout the summer on the cut leaves. When fall arrives, the leaves turn a lovely shade of wine-like claret. This one is vase shaped without any effort on your part. And, at 15 feet high and as wide, it fits most garden settings. USDA Zones 5-8.

‘Viridis’ (Acer palmatum ‘Viridis’) is a beautiful little wonder that will fit into any tight garden space or container. It also has a hardiness zone more expanded than most. In the fall, this Japanese maple’s orange and gold foliage is touched with red. For most of the year it weeps to the ground, showing off the tops of its elongated deeply cut leaves. It makes a perfect little cascade flowing from a garden pot. USDA Zones 4-9.

The Butterfly Japanese maple (Acer palmatum 'Butterfly') leaves will flutter and flirt with their uncommon white, pink, and green colors. Even the leaf shapes tumble into different shapes. This tree will not just give your garden color but movement as well, just like pastel butterflies dancing in the wind. USDA Zones 5-8

Not to be outdone, Wayside Gardens also offers Japanese Maples that are nearly irresistible to the tree lovers out there. We know who we are.

A "must have" for my garden is the Acer palmatum 'Twombley's Red Sentinel' USDA Zones 5-8. I want it for its winter color. No, it’s not evergreen, but it has the most striking red bark, seen best when the leaves are gone.

The dwarf Fullmoon maple (Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium') is tolerant of cold days and nights, down to -10 degrees F. Not only is this a smaller selection of Acer japonicum, it has much more deeply cut foliage, giving its head a bright green lacy appearance.

Michael Dirr, in his book "Dirr’s Hardy Trees and Shrubs" describes the fall color as "spectacular orange to crimson." You can stake this small tree but it looks much more graceful when it is allowed to cascade onto the ground or out of a container. USDA Zones 5-7

All of the Japanese maple trees want good drainage. Be sure to amend your soil in at least a five-foot area before you plant. If you have clay or sand, work in copious amounts of compost. Park offers Greensense Earthworm Castings, which you can dig into the planting bed. It’s an all-organic amendment. A little goes a long way. Be sure to follow label instructions.

If you have clay soil, also add a soil amendment that helps break up the clay, like composted pine bark. A commercially available amendment called Permatill has worked well in some of my gardener friends flower borders.

If you love the look of Japanese Maples but live in a colder zone than they are rated for, just plant them in a container. Leave them outdoors all summer and move them into a sheltered building where they won’t be subject to temperatures below 20-30 degrees F. They do need their rest, though, so don’t attempt to make a houseplant out of them.

---Posted by Coach Anne, November 13 2008---