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Japanese maple cultivar recommendations

16 years ago

I'm looking for Japanese maples to plant on either side of my front steps. I prefer something with deep burgundy leaves (we had a Bloodgood at our old house that I loved). The difficulties are: it needs to grow 6-10 feet tall relatively quickly (the porch is a ways off the ground) but only about 4 feet wide and it will be planted on the northwest side of the house. So most of the year it gets alot of shade, but in summer, it's in full, hot, Tennessee sun by noon. Any ideas what might fit this spot and do well in our heat and humidity? Varieties that I'm considering at this point are Shaina, Shin Deshojo, Bonfire, Beni Fushigi, and Oregon Sunset. I've never grown any of these, though, so I don't know how fussy or heat tolerant they are. I appreciate any input!

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Comments (4)

tcharles26
16 years ago
All of my answers in the maple forum should have an implied "for what it's worth" in front of them - because as much as I like them I don't know a whole lot about them - but here goes -

Shaina probably wont get to 6-10 any time soon. Unless you buy one that's already 4 or 5 feet tall. I don't know anything about the others you list

I saw "Twombly's Red Sentinel" in a catalog recently - It's supposed to be very similar to Bloodgood (i think it was a sport of bloodgood) but it's column shaped. might be just what you want.
myersphcf
16 years ago
I think you are looking for the impossible unless you buy a nearly that big trees (IE: spend big $$)..Jm's just don't grow that fast( except maybe in the noth west and any labeled "fast growing JM" is relative. In addtion it will probably take a year or two in the ground( more likely two) to really take off...at least that has been my experience..
.I have most of those cultivars but no long term experience with them so I also do want want to comment on the "best" choice for you. Your zone should be fine for about any JM although afternoon sun is not a good thing down there and expect leaf burn...Most any tree that is truly fast growing unfortunatly is NOT worth having IE: silver maples, sycamores, chinese elms , mulberries,yata yata yata!!!If tyou want to gop with JM's patience and "zen" must be attained ;>) David
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
16 years ago
I'll second the recommendation for a 'Twombly's Red Sentinel' - it is really the only possibility of maintaining a spread anywhere close to what you want without excessive and (what will in time become) unsightly pruning. And it looks very much like a narrow, columnar 'Bloodgood', both in coloring and leaf size. As it is a very upright, columnar form, its vertical growth is more pronounced than most other cultivars and you should see height faster than with a more traditional spreader or even vase-shaped selection. The caveat is that it is not all that common outside of Japanese maple speciality nurseries and a mail order specimen will be small. Patience may have to prevail :-))
edf78d
14 years ago
i agree that the twombly's is the best choice. i have two of them in a similar area. it is the perfect jm tree for that spot. the nursery where i bought mine(wight's nursery in lynnwood,wa.)from has 6-7' trees for $200.00-$300.00 range. i didn't notice where you where from. but it would be whorth your time to check one out. good luck.

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