Nin, The cracked bark and twig/branch dieback are the results of the Easter Big Freeze Disaster of 2007, complicated by the severe drought conditions we experienced last summer. I saw Japanese maples here- an hour north of Nashville - killed outright, though most were smaller than yours, but some had been in the ground for a number of years. Even well-established natives, like persimmon, pecan, and mulberry were killed back to ground level, so you're fairly lucky that your tree looks as good as it does. I'd prune out the dead wood, and within a year or two you'll hardly notice anything abnormal about your tree.

Well, after some research on the net I am convinced you people are not oversensitive kooks and even jap with a period is to be avoided. Where I live there are almost no Japanese so I am not familiar with the slur. Hontouni gomennasai(learned that on my search). From now on my lazy typing will abbreviate it to j.-which is even easier!!!

Zone 7 should not require extraordinary winter protection for Japanese (please, not jap.) maples grown in containers. In excessively cold weather, you may want to group any containerized maples together or wrap small pots (not the trees) with bubble wrap, but otherwise, they should be fine. Terra cotta, unless it is high-fired Italian ware, absorbs moisture and will easily crack or spall during cold weather. The water molecules freeze, then expand and crack the clay. If you don't care for plastic - and there are some stunning plastic resin containers available these days - then opt for wood or frost-proof glazed ceramic. Virtually any Japanese maple can be grown in a container, provided it is sized according to the specific tree. If you want to stay small, look for any of the many dwarf forms. Mikawa yatsubusa is an excellent little container subject, but with the exception of my Sango Kaku, all my maples are grown in containers - some 25 different cultivars.

I'm not sure about liners or Japanese maple seeds but they do have jiffy pots & things nurseries use, as well as bulk seeds. I've ordered from them twice with no problems. It's R.H. Shumway >>>>www.hpsseed.com. You can also try the following for seeds: lonniesbulkseeds.com vegetableseedwarehouse.com www.homeharvestseeds.com www.katzkuntrykuttins.com www.crosmanseed.com www.superseeds.com Hope these help! Good luck!