Nice garden.

Good companions are hosta, dwarf grasses, ferns, azaleas, rhododendrons, sedges and confiers - especially pines and spruces. I would focus on dwarf conifers that stay in scale, unless you're using them as a back drop.

Nice pics with your gardens. I keep hearing good things about Davidsons.
How much shade do you have?

Since all of these would prefer at least afternoon shade, pick companion plants that will be happy under similar conditions - at least partial shade, rich, acidic soils and frequent deep watering in summer. And since Japanese maples (actually any Asian maple) very much dislike any disturbance in their root zone, pick plants that will not be overly-competitive or need to be dug and divided periodically.

With the exception of the hydrangeas, all of those are full sun plants and a bit on the droughty side as well. Once the trees grow and fill in more - and that often happens faster than you expect - they will be casting their own shade and those plants will not be very happy. And you do not want to plant something now that will have to be dug up and moved later, disturbing the maple roots when you do.

And while it is a totally personal observation, those plants just don't reflect the character of the JM's very well. kaitain4's suggestions are much more in character and kind of the typical JM accompaniments. You could also add hellebores or epimediums to the mix as well.

I would dig up the variegated liriope, split it into a zillion little pieces, and replant it as a thick ground cover all under that fireglow. Other nice ground covers that really help control weeds are big blue liriope(will spread and cover ground) and vinca minor. I use hostas with my japanese maples alot. I like lady in red hydrangea, ferns, pjm rhododendron, Yews make a nice green backdrop, big rocks would look nice, Palace purple coral bells make a great groundcover too. It looks especially nice under or around chartreuse maples. Variegated dogwood "eligantisma" looks super with red maples.

Swmogardens, that is actually Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola'- Japanese Forest Grass. I did however put a PJM Elile to the left of the Fireglow. Just added a couple dwarf maiden grass Hameln on the border of the bed in question.

Gardengal, you make a good point of having to dig up plants later when the maples shade the area out. So now i'm thinking some kind of Rhododendron, hosta(fire and ice, patriot, stained glass, guacamole), and also looking at Picea pungens 'Globosa'.

Anyone else have any new pictures of companions?

I love ferns, and I add them wherever I can. Here's a ground shot of the base of my Sango kaku.
Native Western Sword Ferns in the background, and a new Alaskan Fern up front. I have another Alaskan fern,
still in a container, that will be planted to the right of the maple this Autumn.

Josh

Hey swmogardens I took your advice and got an Ivory Halo dogwood for the foreground of my bloodgood. I also bought a couple of hosta(Blue angel, June, and stained glass). Also going to get a couple good sized rocks.

Greenman, I like the fern idea, your's look nice.

Any companion to green leafed JM's stand out to anyone?
Or more specifically A.S Moonrise, A.P Aconitifolium.

Thanks