here's additional more specific info concerning its appearance. It is a zone 5b cold plant...also a small one 4-6 ft perfect for gardens. It is NOT typical looking and fairly slow growing. It supposedly holds it red well into summer but I found this not to be true here in full sun. The description of green-red ,below, is more accurate. Although mine is in it's first year and cultivars can and do change as they grow ....It is considered a quality tree!! 5-10',LINEARILOBUM , red. Introduced in Holland, this cultivar of the linearlobum group won an Award of Merit in 1969. Leaves are composed of very narrow strap like lobes. Old plants broaden in shape on this densely branched cultivar. Summer color is green red, with a wonderful golden color in the fall.

I'm so sorry. Brown buds, bark separating, meat showing? This little one is history,, IMHO. I lost a Crimson Queen sapling with the DC area's cold winter this year. It was 2 years old, so young, but had survived our Gawd-awful, 12 days over 100 and almost a month's worth of days without rain summer. Guess it just didn't like the cold. I also lost a Red Crusader and one I can't spell the name of. The latter was about 6' tall. Winter sucks.

I bought one of these beauties last year. I had repotted it into a larger pot and grown it in full sunlight. It was growing great up until my cat decided to get frisky with it and snapped the trunk off right at the graft. I tried rescuing it, but there wasn't much I could do. The root stock tried sprouting, but I decided not to keep it. I waited a full year for the garden center to get some more back in stock and I just bought one today. I almost gave up hope on my garden center getting some more of them in this year. But this time they had more to choose from, seeing as they had just gotten them in yesterday. Last year, they only had three left. One of which was this variety. I probably looked a little silly standing out in the rain sorting thru each and every one of them, haha. But after waiting for this long, I wanted the best one that I could find. Since I had almost given up hope, I looked elsewhere for some more Japanese maples. I came across a garden center at a local grocery store that had bigger maples that were almost as tall as me. They were only $20, too. So I had bought a real beautiful one called Acer palmatum 'Shirazz." It's a similar red laceleaf, but it's a brighter and variegated. The trunk had a red plastic "patented" tag on it. I quite look forward to growing both of these beauties in my garden. :)

I would reinforce the suggestion NOT to amend planting holes. It has long been disproven that this is a beneficial practice and is just asking for trouble when dealing with a heavy, clay soil. And you never want to dig a planting hole deeper than the depth of the rootball as it comes from the nursery, Loosening the soil in the bottom of the planting hole, even when not amending, will result in settling and your new tree will be planted too deep. Which will eventually be the kiss of death. When dealing with a heavy, clay soil, dig a very wide but shallow planting hole - like a big saucer. Rough up the sides so they are not smooth (but not the bottom!). Site your new tree so that the top if the rootball is at least 2-3" above grade (higher won't hurt). Backfill using only the soil you dug out, breaking it up as necessary, and bringing it up in a slight mound so that it just meets (but doesn't cover) the top of the rootball. Add whatever amendments you need or wish to use as a mulch or topdressing over this mound. Lots of plants grow very well in clay - just look at what's growing in the neighborhoods and natural areas around you. Clay soil is much more of an issue for the gardener than it is for the plant, as long as you plant correctly for the soil condition.