Jennie, - use some good potting soil - you meant Sango kaku, but your green lace maple isn't that, Sango kaku or Coral Bark maple has not lacy green leaves, turn yellow at fall, the bark is red, during winter it is very decorative. - the seedlings can differ from the parent tree, you can end up with a great variety of trees. To get exactly as the parent is possible only with grafting or rooting. - dig up as much as possible, you are going to loose some. - read the postings on this forum about soil and fertilizing. Good luck and enjoy your little darlings!

A few that do well in a fairly shady situation like you describe, are slow growing and fairly small, and are all quite different from each other, include the following (look them up and see if you like any): Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' - round fan shaped yellow/green leaves. Acer palmatum 'Tsuma gaki' - the light green leaves have persimmon-red fingernails in spring. Acer p. 'Shigitatsu sawa' - Green and cream reticulated leaf. Acer p. 'Filigree' - A delicately colored dissected leaf cultivar. As it is for a pet cemetary you might also want to consider the 'Ghost' series from Buchholz & Buchholz, 'First Ghost' and 'Sister Ghost' are said to look good in shade. To be honest most of the green cultivars would do OK in the situation described, it is just the red/purple leaved forms which should be avoided as they color poorly in a shady situation.

You could make a circle with soil level lower than the lawn. It would look like a crater below the lawn level. Alot of trees planted in public is like this. I suspect it is because when the sprinklers are on the crater will collect more water and water the tree more than the surrounding lawn. This sounds like a good idea. Trunk buried too deep is not good, try to find the first root by tracing down from the trunk and keep that just below soil level.

"Full sun is the way to go!" That may be the consensus here for whatever reason but full sun is NOT the way to go and virtually every single Japanese maple specialty nursery and JM authority will clearly indicate that afternoon shade or partial shade is a preferred location for any JM variety. Here are just a few excerpts from the websites or text articles of some of the most well recognized growers of JM's....... Provide morning sun and afternoon shade - Mendocino Maples Morning sun and afternoon shade are ideal for Japanese Maple trees. Filtered sunlight is best. - Southern Living Japanese maples will grow best in a sheltered position. Red and purple leaved cultivars need some sun to develop fully their dark hues. Variegated Japanese maples need partial shade to prevent the afternoon sun from scorching the foliage. Green-leaved forms tolerate full sun, but are best in dappled shade as very bright conditions can sometimes cause scorch. - Royal Horticultural Society I will make this straight-forward statement here, that you will also see on many Japanese maple related sites. The best possible setting for any Japanese maple is: MORNING SUN AND AFTERNOON SHADE or ALL DAY LIGHTLY FILTERED SUN. Even plants that do okay in full sun or a lot of shade will benefit from this placement no matter where you live (the only exception are a very few extremely sun sensitive cultivars that should be in deep shade). They will generally have less leaf burn and better color throughout the growing season in this preferred placement. - Davidsan's Maples The Japanese refer to the maples as the ‘little girls’ and the pines as the ’fathers’. In their native habitat the pines provide protection from the intense sun and wind. Though most of the trees will do well in full sun in a mild climate where temperatures are seldom above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the heavily variegated trees will typically burn even in milder climates if exposed to afternoon sun. All of the trees will grow well in partial shade or the dappled light in the under story of a large tree. - Essence of the Tree Even though 'Glowing Embers', 'Trompenburg', 'Emperor I', and many of our other cultivars do well in full sun, it is recommended that you plant your maple in a place that does not receive direct sunlight after 12 noon, especially if your summers have temperatures reaching above 100 degrees more than five days each year. - Pacific Coast Maples Ideally, provide dappled shade; if too much the plants grow slowly and the purple types become more green; too little and they may literally cook in the summer sun. - Michael Dirr Protection from late afternoon and evening sun will reduce leaf scorch, sun scald and reduce the amount of watering necessary to keep the soil cool and moist. Also plants under stress are more likely to develop diseases and insect damage. Having a property with large existing shade trees to plant your Japanese maple under makes a perfect environment. Such filtered or dappled shade is ideal for Japanese maples. - Japanese Maples online Of course you can plant your tree wherever you like but making the assumption that full sun is the best or preferred siting is far from accurate and could lead to some unfortunate consequences depending on where you are located. That's one of the problems with these online forums......you can get a lot of anecdotal advice from hobby gardeners that really may have little to no practical application.