Nailbird, You must live on the Western shore. Your sun exposure in the morning followed by shade in the afternoon is fine. Dont try and overcompensate for this heatwave by excessive watering, it wont do it. Providing your tree is not root bound and you 'teased or straightened' them if they were circling the pot they came out of, your tree is just being stressed from its new location and conditions. Dont water overhead like a sprinkler,dont fertilize and i wouldnt plant flowers or anything at all at the base of the tree that could interfere with its root system. Your tree is far from established and what you are experiencing is not uncommon.Your tree will acclimate and recover on its own with time. regards AL

The mulch is very thin, not even completely covering the soil. Whose to say mine won't eventually bite the dust. It can still happen and I kind of expect it. I feel like I am on borrowed time. Remember, the first pic is damage from two falls ago as it looks now. There was splitting, peeling and lifting completely around the trunk and as you can see and pretty far into it - notice the gray wood. It continues today all the way up into the branching now. I don't think you have more damage but there are a few differences between our trees. One obvious difference is our zones. Another big difference is the maturity. I bought mine in the late nineties as a small whip meant for mail order. It has been in place since then so the roots are more established. However, yours has more mature bark than mine. Mine just only lost the red color at the stem about the same time as the damage was noticed. I don't have plates and furrows yet. As far as substitutions, I am not a JM expert but there is certainly no lack of them. There are so many beautiful trees. The only reason I grow this variety is because of the winter presence which is strong. The stems are redder than my dogwoods. It isn't my favorite leaf or shape tree if I had to run it against other maples during the other seasons. OK, I know I have a pic somewhere of a more mature tree at the NYBG during winter - it is stunning. It will take a little time, I know I keep promising these pics but I will try to find it before the weekend is over. They are on another computer. BTW, I am not trying to talk you into keeping the tree if you want another one. I can't blame you. I would probably want to move it too even though at this point it would make things worse. I am only comparing our plants. Even though mine didn't die, doesn't mean yours won't. Just offering a possibility that it might not. I wonder what your warrenty was on this plant? I know most places are one year but once in a while, the more expensive nurseris offer more time.

Try to get a hold of 15 to 20 gallon nursery tub. Dig as big of a rootball as you can and put it in the tub, keep the soil moist. You will loose a bit of roots that is ok but the bigger the rootball the better Dig hole in new place before hand and plant the tree.

JM's prefer the soil to be slightly acidic and very well draining - that's about it. No special soil. Just the native soil, but you can apply any amendments you think you might need as a mulch or top dressing. If it's been in a container for awhile, make sure to loosen the roots but gently!! And plan to do this in late summer or early fall - not now in the heat of summer. And without photos, it's impossible to say much about pruning. IME, JM's seldom need much pruning except to enhance growth habit. In the ground, in decent soil and with room for proper root development, you should see it putting out normal growth. No need to speed things up :-)