I would love some of your seeds. I have red Texas star hibiscus, pink moonvine, yellow or fuschia four o'clocks, red cypress vine, blue pea vine, and clematis Dutchess of Edinburgh and jackmanii. Please let me know. Thanks, Joyce

Hi, I sure would like some of your Japanese red maple 'Fireglow' seeds. I have all kinds of annuals, perennials & vine seeds. This is my personal stash that is not on my trade list. What are you interested in that I could tempt you with? Please LMK, Faye!

Hmmm...where to start. First of all, there are nearly a thousand different cultivars of Japanese maples. About a third (or maybe more) of them have red leaves at least a portion of the year. Secondly, japanese red maple would be a misleading name since a red maple is a native maple to the US that has green leaves and red flowers. Red japanese maple would make more sense. So, "Japanese red maple" could refer to one of hundreds of cultivars that have been reproduced by grafting, or it could be a red seedling that shows good red characteristics. This would mean that 'red select' is a specific cultivar of a red japanese maple. You must also consider whether or not it is a weeping red dissectum (fine lacy leaves) or an upright palmatum (star shaped leaves). 'Red select' is one of many red dissectum cultivars (lacy and weeping). I think 'red select' is a seedling from 'inaba shidare' (guys I know Vertrees claims that they are one in the same, but I have convincing information that says otherwise). They are similar, but some claim there are distinct differences (and by distinct I mean practically with a magnifying glass). Other similar common cultivars include 'crimson queen', 'tamukeyama', 'garnet', and the newer 'red dragon'. A couple of good red upright cultivars include 'bloodgood' and 'fireglow'. Search these names and this should shed some light on what the differences are.

Thanks so much for your replies! The tree that we bought was the single trunk one, but I kept obsessing about the other one. It was really driving my husband crazy, as returning one and getting the other is a huge, big, messy deal. I actually ended up going back to Lowe's to look at the other one again, and on second look I was finally sure that we went with the right one. The info from you guys really helped. Houzi, it was so good to just hear some confirmation that the single trunk has some positives. And rmac78, thanks so much for posting the great photos. Your tree looks perfect there. Really pretty. Another factor is that it's in the side yard in an area where a tree tending to be a little more narrow will be fine--we don't need a ton of low width there. The final deciding factor is that my neighbor just gave us 4 small Japanese maple seedlings from his trees that he's been nurturing, each about a foot tall. (One parent tree looks like a bloodgood, the other has a very slight greenish tint but is very similar. I have 3 really red seedlings and one on the greenish side.) I think eventually with these I'll have trees with the cool trunk pattern I love, and in locations where I'll appreciate it more. Thanks again for your help. I'll be posting soon looking for advice on planting the four new little trees to give them the best chance. Kate