Go for it. I have pseudosieboldianum, a couple of shirasawanum and a number of japonicum cultivars. I really like the leaves and the form. Typically the fall color is outstanding and during the summer the texture and color of the leaves is cool. Here is a small Acer japonicum 'Meigetsu' that I am growing.

Here is a plant that I grafted about 9 years ago. I had it tagged "Dancing Peacock" but was wrong at the time. For the longest I couldn't figure out which cultivar of Acer japonicum it was but I have seen seed production on this plant and some others that a friend has planted and have come to the conclusion that it is a shirasawanum. the seeds are held in an upright position, above the leaves.

Here is a young Acer shirasawanum that I grafted a few years back. It came from a tree located not too far from Stone Mountain,GA. It is a heat tolerant shirasawanum no doubt. Thanks Dale.

Hi, do you guys have pictures of A. Japonicum Aconitifolium (dancing peacock?)

I would like to find out more info about the Aconitifolium. I selected this tree to grow because it is supposed to be a slow growing and short tree? (10 ft in 10-15 years?) But I don't know anything about the heat tolerant aspects of it.

Wow - great pictures! Do you have any pics of your pseudosieboldianum and the aconitifolium? Thanks for posting your info. Which is your favorite if you can answer that :) Also, i'm in zone 5...do you think they'll live here? Are they more or less hardy than the other palmatums i have like tamuke and so on? Do you know off hand? Do japonicums grow faster or slower than the palmatums? How big is your pseudosieboldianum? Thanks!!!

My aconitifoliums survived a long and snowy winter here in zone 6 with no ill effects. I just planted 2 pseud. so will see how they turn out. Not sure about growth rates. The aconit. are spectacular in the fall and seem to be more chartuese in their spring growth. About all I can offer for now.

Aconitifolium is one of my favorites, and I wouldn't just say it is slow growing. It has beautiful leaves and great fall color. I also have Meigetsu and love it. Big leaves! I have other smaller leaved forms of Japonicum and Shirasawanum that I also like.

Another contrast you might want to consider is Acer triflorum. It has fairly large leaves, great fall color, interesting bark and good hardiness. It also is a favorite.

My pseudosieboldianum is and has been in a 3g container for 4 or 5 yrs, It hasn't done well and by mid-summer it looks pretty bad. About that time I am usually out there giving it "last rites". Each spring it puts out new foliage that looks good. With this one I think that I need to get it into the ground.

I don't know which I consider a favorite but A. j. 'Aconitifolium' is right up there near the top. I like the form, bush/tree. It is relatively compact and not overwhelming. It has good color throughout the seasons and fall can be spectacular. The large, deeply dissected leaf is what I think I like best about it. I have a few other cultivars that share this similar leaf form, 'Weeping Aconitifolium', 'Green Cascade' and 'Oregon Fern' but I consider 'Aconitifolium' king within this court. I have quite a few(not enough) 'Aconitifolium' in 1g containers, one in a large "Smartpot", one in a 3g and one in a 5g container but pictured here is a friend's mature specimen trained "tree form". Most that I see tend to be more of a bush form so it's refreshing seeing a standard. They are supposed to be hardier than palmatums but here in zone 7 they tend to break bud earlier so young tender plants may be subject to some damage from sudden spring freezes. In that respect it may be better in a more northerly climate. It is quite heat tolerant and will tolerate full sun.

Maybe this is a phase I'm going through, but after all the wildly dissected leaves and crazy variegated colors, I am developing a real appreciation for the subtle grace of some of the less splashy cultivars. You mentioned 'Palmatifolium' in the initial post, and that is one of my dear favorites right now. It's restful and elegant without stabbing you in the eye. I recently bought a small Acer x 'Sensu' that is supposed to have 'Palmatifolium' as a parent, and will be interested to see how the two compare as it matures.

Susan

How about Gossamer too. It is a nice tree.Don't forget the mono/pictum ones too-Hoshi yadori and Usugumo are outstanding planted next too each other.And Hoshi yadori planteted next to Fagus sylvatica Nicole[green/yellow variegated] really pick up each other and look marvelousss.

My Acontifolium this year now topps 12 feet high and 10 feet wide[gained 2feet of width this year].One of the best in my book.

Koniferkid

Elmore, that is a pretty tree that your friend has, any idea how old is it?

I would guess 15 to 20 years. It's about 10' tall and is planted in a turf area with no irrigation. The ground is pretty hard,compact and clay. If it had been planted in a cultivated loamy soil and supplied irrigation I believe that it would be 15' or better.

Here are two of my Acer japonicum 'Green Cascade' planted in the landscape. Unless staked this plant will grow more or less horizontally...spreading and conforming to the contours of the ground. Mind you it's not prostrate but low and spreading. I like it. It was the first japonicum that I produced.

Rocky,
What did you end up getting and how did they do? I added a second Acinitofolium this spring and just planted a Green Cascade. I recently planted a large Pseudosieboldianum and I hope that it does better than the little 1 gal specimens that I have had (in the ground) for a couple of years. They don't seem to take the sun very well. I just planted A.j. Vitifolilum.
Next years wish list include A.s. Palmatifolium and Ogura yama. I also want A.j.Otaki.

Kvolk - I ended up getting the Acontifiolium and a Green Cascade. The acont looks to be doing better than the gr cascase b/c i think it the acont is in a less exposed area. We had a horribly dry and hot summer and i think most everyone made it through ...which is pretty good. Lots of watering. It probably wasn't the best summer to plant all the JM's i did, but just kind of got unlucky with the dry summer thing. I definitely like the Pseudosieboldianum...thinking about that for next year - you'll have to let us know how it does. I like the Otaki that you mentioned too. I'm thinking about Paperbark (acer griseum), triflorum and that manschurian maple next year. Do you have any of those - i here there OK for our 5 zone. I planted some viburnum near my acont and hope that looks neat eventually...also planted a dw alberta blue spruce nearby too. I'll have to take some pics next year, when things are more established. Do you have Acer palmatums? Do you winter protect them and if so, what do you do?

Rocky,
I have some A. palmatums but until this year they were all protected by where they are planted--on the east and north sides of the house and protected from wind and hot sun. They are generic red and green palmatums, a Coral Bark a Seiryu and a Bloodgood. This year I put in Red Dragon, Crimson Queen and Orangeola. They are protected but less well--except that the Orangeola is quite exposed. These three will be surrounded by burlap during the winter at least until they get established. I put in a Mandshuricum this spring. I am a little worried about it. It was 6ft tall and came with all of it's leaves looking like wilted lettuce and a dry rootball. The seller swore that it was shipped wet. It lost 2/3 of it's leaves. The Autumn Moon shipped with it was still wet and looking good. I put the Mandshuricum in a shady spot and it may not have gotten enough sun to really recover. I am a little worried that it will have enough strength to get through the winter.
My Aconitifolium is currently gorgeous. This is the first year for my A.s. 'Autumn Moon' and is suffered some serious leaf burn. The leaves that it put out later in the summer look good though so perhaps it is getting established. I really think that my alkaline clay is a bigger challenge than the winter temps. One of these days we may have a winter that will change my mind. In the 18 years that I have had my first palmatum we haven't hit -20 yet. I just planted 3 little 'Robinson Red' seedlings so that I will have something to replace my expensive trees with if we have a hard winter and they bite the dust.
Oh, I have got a griseum also that is headed into it's third winter. I don't think that it has seen below -10. It is fully exposed. The fall folliage never gets bright. It is more of a rusty red. My viburnum that is near it gets a lot brighter.
For fall color contrast I love the looks of the dwarf Picea pungens close to the red trees. St Mary's Broom is very blue and more readily avaliable than some of the others.

This summer I purchased what I thought was A. japonicum 'Aconitifolium', but after looking at Elmore's pictures I'm not so sure about it. Does this look like 'Aconitifolium' or do I have something else. It sure wouldn't be the first time I ended up with something other than what I thought I had.

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No, it is not Aconitofolium. I am no expert but from the fall colors I would guess that it is a japonicum though. It is a beautiful little tree. It should be spectacular when it gets bigger. Now you have something that you can go shopping for. You can look for a real Aconitifolium!

Triflorum, 'Girard's Hybrid' paperbark maple, mandshuricum, 'White Tigress' snake bark maple and shirasawanum all are doing well here in z5a northeastern Wisconsin. Griseum has been iffy. Monrovia's (supposedly hardier) 'Emperor I' red-leaf palmatum seems do be faring well.

Hi,

I have some photos of Acer japonicum 'Acontifolium' from various stages.

4-13-2005 Acer japonicum 'Acontifolium' (Dancing Peacock)
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08-04-2005 Acer Japonicum 'Acontifolium'
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Photo from this past week: Acer japonicum 'Acontifolium'
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Dax

The first photo is not from 2005 rather 2003.

Dax

Thanks Kvolk - i'm going to check out that St. Mary's Broom you mentioned. Anybody have suggestions (online) where they've bought from? Or good links to info/picture on it? I could probably post this or look at the conifer forum too, but thought i'd write it anyways. I have very clayish soil too....enough to have to have a septic mound system at least. If you have any pics of your own trees, I'd love to see. I was thinking of getting the triflorum, griseum and that mandshurican (sp?) next spring. Anybody have any favorite places (online) they get these from? Or have had best luck with? Our winters haven't been extremely cold here either...no -20s at least. I was going to put some chicken wire around some of the more zone 5 iffy JMs or ones that i know the rabbits and other animals can get to. I just don't know if i should put some shielding on the west and north sides of the chicken wire enclosure for the trees...to shield from winter winds?? Not sure if that's worth the trouble. My trees are all on the north and east side of my house too. Last year, I wrapped all the JMs in this wire and then wrapped that wire enclosure with some polystyrene flexible layer and left top open...lot of work. And then even the Coral Barks had major dieback - they had the black bark thing happening. So i cut them back to about 10 inches off ground and they came back really nicely, but now it's almost winter and i don't know if i want to baby the Sango kakus every winter and then see them die back 2 feet every year. (I had planted these sango kakus last October - late). Maybe they weren't established enough and that's the reason for dieback or maybe the enclosure i made just was too much...and then they got that dark br/black bark and dieback?? Not sure. I have a couple more JMs this year compared to last...got a little crazy this summer. But anyways, i really only want to put the chick wire fence around the JM's and not try to insulate or shield them...you think i can get away with that? One more question...does anybody know if there's a really big difference between the acer griseum cinnamon paperbark and the girard's hybrid...personal experience with that? I don't know which one to get. NEWgars - is your girard's hybrid and griseum planted in pretty protected locations? And anybody have pictures of their triflorum, griseum and mandshurican?

Hi Rocky,

Just a tip about purchasing Acer triflorum and Acer griseum. If you want to be assured the best fall color from either of these do your shopping in the fall. These trees are commonly grown from seed and almost all of them have less than favorable fall color. Gardenweb member "Greenthumb" has a great triflorum and he's the person who once suggested this to me. Maybe an email to him will bring you a great photo. I've seen his triflorum and it's fall color is spectacular.

About the Picea pungens 'St. Mary's Broom', you will probably find it at Gees, Girards, Bethelehem Nursery, Collectors Nursery, etc. All would be likely places to pick one up.

Dax

Girard's hybrid paperbark has thrived in Green Bay Wisconsin in a typical urban lot with no exceptional protection. The nearest robust specimen of griseum is 50 miles to the south in Oshkosh with an east exposure. Dr Hasselkus gave up on griseum years ago. Lost specimens at his home and at the UW arboretum. Shirasawanum has been performing well here for me - great fall color but needs a shady location to prevent leaf scorch. Koren maple has the unfortunate habit of retaining shriveled up brown leaves into spring.

One of my former bosses at a local nursery I used to work at here in Zone 5b/a/4b (depending on our winters and microclimates) has a twenty year Acer griseum, I too have a nice 15 footer, and I know of another nursery around here that grew them as seedlings in an open exposed field... so it's not entirely impossible that they won't survive in our similar climates. Mine has never had any dieback whatsoever and is planted in full sun with the only protection being a 4 foot lattice fence surrounding my property. I've heard of others planting the Girard's hybrid and I would certainly have planted it had my Acer griseum bit the dust.

I'm also growing Acer palmatum 'Seiryu' with significant die-back on the Northwest side of the tree each year but I was fortunate to have purchased it when it was already a mature specimen, so I think that has also helped significantly. Generally speaking however, Acer palmatum here can take a real good hit from our winters. Acer japonicum...these do much better than the palmatums, but a late freeze in spring will do damage to the newly formed leaves, however... it does bounce back without problem. Shirasawanum's are similar to the hardiness of japonicum here and for the most part do extremely well. Acer pseudosieboldianum (a form of Korean Maple)...does great in a friends garden in z4 Minnesota, I'm growing these from seed this winter.

My newest additions which I intend to grow in pots for the next several year are Acer circinatum 'Pacific Fire' and Acer conspicuum 'Phoenix'. They'll have winter protection for the next several years but ultimately I'll have to see how these cultivars perform when planted outright. Hopefully the bold reds of 'Pacific Fire' won't bite the dust like Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku'. To date, there's not a single 'Sango Kaku' that I know of that has yet to remain here.

Dax

I just recentely planted some Meigetsu J Maple seeds and i am curious how long they are going to take to sprout and grow leaves after being in the fridge for three months. Do they pop out instantely or does it still take a few weeks after they come out? Im mainly curious cuz i live in a warmer climate and if they dont pop up soon after i pull them out I want to keep them inside for a few days so they dont dry out. I am hoping for best results so if is there anything i should do to increase my odds please let me know. thanks