Japanese Maples
Japanese maples - all cultivars of Acer palmatum - offered by Foliage Gardens have been selected for their dwarf or semi-dwarf size. With few exceptions, Harry says that they are especially suited to small gardens or container growing. These are all grafted plants.
The slow growth and graceful habit of these lovely small trees do make them good container plants. I've got two in my garden who lived happily in large pots outside for many years. I just planted the second one in the ground last fall. In cold climates, you need to protect the roots of potted plants over winter. I did it by heaping leaves around the pots and containing them with a burlap wrap that worked quite well. They are not really indoor plants, although the catalog notes several suitable for bonsai...but, being trees by nature, they need a cold dormant period to be happy, so you'd need a bright, coldish space to winter them inside.
I've wanted to increase my small collection of maples for some time and Foliage Gardens offers several that I'd like to have...how to choose among them is the question.
In addition to graceful form, these trees are noted for leaf shape and foliage color, as you can see here in the red spring tones of the tiny, tiny leaves of Acer palmatum 'Beni Hime' (red princess).
Like many of the red leaf cultivars, summer will bring more green into the leaf and it will blaze away again in fall. This dwarf needs sun to establish - Harry says it can be a bit tricky when young, but is very hardy when it gets older.
Acer palmatum 'Beni Otaki' (red bamboo) has an upright, fastigate shape with incredibly slender, bamboo-like foliage that retains its color throughout the season. The combination of leaf shape and color on this one is irresistible.
Note that while all of these will tolerate a substantial amount of shade, they will not retain their color well once the surroundings get shady - and they will stretch. They are not plants for deep shade, yet they need some protection in hot climates from burning sun. As with many plants, morning sun is best.
Acer palmatum 'Karasugawa' is one for shade because hot sun will burn the spectacular pink and white variegated unusually shaped leaves.
Brightest color is in spring, but summer foliage retains flecks of pink and white and in fall the variegated areas turn bright rose.
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