Japanese maples provide variety and color

Coming in a range of sizes and shapes and tolerant of a variety of light conditions, Japanese maples fit into the Northwest garden like soy milk in Chai tea lattes. This month and next are excellent times to purchase and plant Japanese maples in your garden, as the prices can be good and you can see the fall colors. On top of that, dare I say, the rains will be starting soon enough, so you will have time to get some solid root growth this fall.

Great Plant Picks, the plant awards program sponsored by the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden, has selected several wonderful Japanese maples in recent years. To learn more about the maples listed below, including information on plant combinations, culture, and availability, visit their Web site at www.greatplantpicks.org.

Red-leaved maples

The Northwest garden is littered with purple-leaved plums. As much fun as their dark foliage can be, these trees are prone to aphids, fire blight, and rabid suckering. Consider replacing problem trees with red-leaved forms of the Japanese maple.

Tamuke Yama Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Tamuke Yama' [Dissectum Group]

With a strong weeping form and finely dissected leaves, 'Tamuke Yama' is the quintessential plant for the Northwest garden. With bright red fall color, it is a slow grower, finally reaching ten to twelve feet high and slightly wider.

'Emperor I' Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Emperor I')

Grown for its tremendously dark red leaves, 'Emperor I' grows approximately twenty-five feet high and as wide when mature.

Shrub forms

Orangeola Laceleaf Maple (Acer palmatum 'Orangeola' [Dissectum Group])

'Orangeola' is a finely textured, weeping plant featuring bright orange-red foliage in spring turning to orange-green foliage in summer. In fall, shield your eyes for the blazing red and orange show. Give 'Orangeola' a spot in your garden where it can reach its mature size of seven to eight feet tall and six to seven feet wide.

Small trees for small spaces

Katsura Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Katsura')

'Katsura' is known for its spring foliage in pale orange-yellow hues. After greening up for the summer, 'Katsura' returns to orange and yellow for fall. More upright in habit than 'Emperor I', consider 'Katsura' for a small specimen tree in the urban garden.

Osakazuki Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Osakazuki')

Selected for its ability to resist foliage burn in the hottest conditions, 'Osakazuki' is a green-leaved maple that turns crimson in fall. It is a fast tree when young, but not a large tree, maxing out at approximately twenty feet high and as wide.

No garden? No problem!

For you apartment and condominium dwellers looking to decorate the patio, consider using Japanese maples on your patio. Several of the smaller, slow-growing maples can be used in rustic Asian pottery or contemporary galvanized containers for instant focal points in small areas. Consider the following smaller maples for containers.

Shaina Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Shaina')

This small round shrub looks fantastic in rustic Asian pottery. Growing four to five feet tall in ten years, it is a good plant for shaping and training into architectural form.

Lion's Head Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Shishigashira')

A tree and not a shrub, this maple gets its common name from the foliage's resemblance to a lion's mane. Dark green and crinkly, 'Shishigashira' is known for gold and reddish-orange foliage late in the season. A slow-growing small tree, expect it to get fifteen feet tall and as wide when fully mature.

Seiryu Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Seiryu')

A vase-shaped form makes this small tree low maintenance (no shaping) and instantly elegant. Fifteen feet high and ten feet wide when mature, 'Seiryu' has golden fall color with crimson tints.

And now for something completely different

Looking for something unusual for your garden? The Floating Clouds maple, Acer palmatum 'Ukigomo', is a variegated Japanese maple with pink-tinted green and white foliage. Ideal for partial shade, this maple grows ten to twelve feet tall and six to eight feet wide.

Sources

Wells Medina Nursery in Bellevue (425/454-1853) is known for its large inventory of Japanese maples and is the first exit on the eastside off of I-520 for those of you fearful of the Eastside. The prices can be high (to go with the excellent quality and selection, I might add), so start at Wells and then shop around.