It seems reasonable that it would do well under deciduous trees, since it loses its leaves too. I have a rather plain looking one planted under a California Pepper, and it is doing very well. Others I have planted have died- I had always gone with the fancy lacy or red ones. I really like my plain little green one.

Renee

The plain green one is the one I'm considering. I'm after the leaf shape more than the color. From my reading it seems the plain green gives better fall color than the fancy ones.

Unless your winter actually gets cold, you won't get fall color. Here in Sunset 23 the leaves just turn brown. Not cold enough for a color change.

Some (if not all) will give color without super cold weather ( I am in SF Bay area). For example I have 'EverRed' which is a filigree type (very divided leaves) It starts out very red, turns greenish red in summer and back to red in fall. There is a lot of brown by then from sun/wind burn even in partial shade, I think this may really be the cause of no fall color - the leaves are just in really bad shape by Winter time. Others I have which do not get burned (some in full sun, but most in partial to full shade) give nice yellow to orange to red tones in the fall. I have 9 different varieties at this time.

red- bloodgoods and emperor types probably have a similar leaf shape to the green one that you are looking at.

It gets fairly cold here in winter. Considerably colder than zone 23. Not uncommon to have nights in the 30s or 40s.

My only concern is giving it adequate shelter from the Santa Ana winds. I have a thick arborvitae hedge and a shed that would cut down on the wind. I don't know if that would be sufficient protection.

I looked at some green ones at Lowes today. They were in five gallons and already pretty enough to look at.

A lot of Japanese Maples sold are unnamed seedlings. Nothing wrong with that - but you can't be sure how they will perform as they are all slightly different. One thing I would look at is the branch structure, some trees have a habit of sending out long new growth in a curvy fashion with tangled branches, leading to an unsettled look. I have such a tree, and am trimming it often to keep it looking nice.

If you plant Coral Bark Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) 'Sango-kaku' you will have the added benefit of gorgeous coral bark during winter, especially nice if you can arrange to have it back lit by the winter sun. It is a fairly tough vigorous variety as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: coral bark maple

We have one in full sun, and it does get a little singed in the Inland Labor Day heat (113). But in the fall it perks up again and replaces most of the damaged leaves. It turns a reddish color in fall, but not like our seedling apples. Its as tall as the house now, so they will grow in the heat.

Applenut

I have green Japanese Maples close to the foundation of one story house that get direct 10 hour sun or more. They're not under any large tree. The leaves do drop a little during summer heat. But in the fall, they're beautiful deep bright orange.

The challenge could be when they're young. Once they're established after 10-20 years, their canopy will shelter the trunk and root. All they need is some latex paint on the trunk to prevent sun burn.

I also have one fine leaf bloodgood which is red all year round but doing very poorly. It was planted too close to another J Maple. Japanese maples do not handle root competition too well.