Follow Up Question: It seems apricots and plums are more sensitive than pears & apples, but not as sensitive as cherries. Right in between, does that sound right? As of now, all the trees in question are recently purchased (young) in 10gallon containers. I have a Blenheim Apricot and a Weeping Santa Rosa Plum that are NOT doing well with full exposure to our afternoon sun (it's only 80'ish here right now). All the young shoots and leaves wilt very easily, even after watering. The leaves on woody branches are doing OK (which I think proves it's not over/under watered). However, the cherries certainly are having a more difficult time already, even tho in filtered sun. The pears are doing just fine in full sun -- apples are OK too, but showing edge curling on some leaves, not worried yet. BTW I haven't put up shade cloth yet. I do mulch and paint the trunks -- previously nothing helped for 100+ weather on young trees until the shade cloth. Once *well* established (i.e. over a year in-ground), the citrus and peaches/nectarines did fine with an acceptable amount of leaf loss from scorching without any shade cloth.

>> spoonplayer: Long story short, the neighbor is still clueless (I don't want to damage our neighborliness) but I do need to keep him out of my yard. I may put a sign on the gate asking people to enter at the front...that may send a subtle "keep out" message. Or "Beware of Dog" but I would have to follow up by getting a dog. I can tell you something from my own "bad neighbor" experience: SUBTLE DOESN'T WORK - EVER. My next door "neighbor" used to let her dog come into my fenced in yard to poop. So I put a lock on the gate she was entering thinking "that will send a message to keep out". So she went to the gate at the back of my yard! AGAIN, when you're dealing with BAD NEIGHBORS, SUBTLE DOESN'T WORK. I now have locks on all 3 of my gates. And I told her to keep her dog out of my yard if I ever forget to lock a gate. I said it nicely but I was very, very clear.

I have 2 and they have survived well here in Norton through 2 winters so far. One I put right in ground and suffered damage from deer last winter but leafed out nonetheless. The second I had in a container for the porch. I put in under the porch for winter and covered with leaves. It is doing great and in fact the growth has been so good I am thinking of putting it in the ground as it will have a good habit for the landscape. MJH is right, it will need some early trimming and shaping to develope a nice crown as it appears to get a little too twiggy on top with new growth. I do know my container OD suffered from leaf scorch in the hot summer sun, so your site will be just right. The spring and fall colors cannot be beat on this tree. Good luck. John

Japanese maples will often push out flushes of new growth during the growing season, especially if they are receiving plenty of water. Depending on the cultivar, the growth can be either long, whippy shoots or dense clusters at the branch tips. The leaves generated by these growth flushes often appear quite different than the original spring growth (larger is quite normal) but after the tree loses its leaves in fall and then leafs out again next spring, everything comes back to normal. Without providing a photo to confirm otherwise, I'd assume this is what you are seeing.