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Japanese Maples in Florida

13 years ago

I used these forums and others that were centered on discussing JMs for a long time as I tried to figure out what maples would do well in North Central Florida. I thought I'd make a post about some successful JMs here that get a LOT of full sun. I've only planted these in spring/early summer but with the worst weather behind us I can definately say that the following are capable of taking sun from morning to 2pm without much trouble in full florida sun.

1. The best so far has been Seiryu. Absolutely ZERO burn in morning -3pm full sun.

2. I put in an acer palmatum E.P. that has also done fantastically in sun from morning until 4pm.

3. Glowing Embers is another one I can vouch for with sun exposure from 7am until 5-6pm in full sun.

4. Sango kaku can handle the full suun here also and I have it thriving in morning until 3pm sun.

5. The following do quite fine in morning-2pm or so:

Kamagata

Emperor One

Fireglow

Tamukeyama

Osakazuki

Tana

Shishigashira

I had a LOT of trouble finding information on JMs for Florida so I thought I'd post my findings to help other people out and hopefully get more feedback. Good luck with JMs in the heat! Some of these babies can truly take the sun quite well! I am going to be planting Acer shirasawanum Jordan and a.p. Summer Gold in full sun this fall and will post some followups as my florida maple dream lives on :)

Featured Answer

ruas2015

6 years ago

Ishboz: I would love to hear an update of the JMs you planted. I'm in San Antonio TX (it's hotter than North Central Florida where you are, I believe). I planted several JMs, most have sun from mornings to 3:00PM. Glowing Embers has been doing very well in full sun here so far (next is Sango Kaku).

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Comments (6)

gardningrandma
13 years ago
How long have you been growing these at your location and have you grown any that did not do well?
lou_spicewood_tx
13 years ago
That's the ones that are often recommended for Dallas area.

I've heard of good things about Acer shirasawanum Jordan and a.p. Summer Gold growing in full sun in hot weather.
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Marge 727: You have had a couple of answers as to why your maples are not doing too well. I don't know why they would have salts, from what source would that be? Unless it is from the wind. I live right on the ocean front, and I can say that the Japanese maples generally do not like wind, especially salt laden wind directly from the ocean. However, that did not deter me and I have about 30 maples here. Several I grew from seed planted 5 or 6 years ago, so they are just the basic palmatum. They have adapted to the conditions here, as may be expected from a seedling, and are doing fine. The varieties with the finer leaves, such as the laceleaf, or koto-no-ito and so on, are more susceptible to wind scorch. The more solid leaves, for lack of a better word, seem to be able to handle such conditions a little better.
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Hmmm...where to start. First of all, there are nearly a thousand different cultivars of Japanese maples. About a third (or maybe more) of them have red leaves at least a portion of the year. Secondly, japanese red maple would be a misleading name since a red maple is a native maple to the US that has green leaves and red flowers. Red japanese maple would make more sense. So, "Japanese red maple" could refer to one of hundreds of cultivars that have been reproduced by grafting, or it could be a red seedling that shows good red characteristics. This would mean that 'red select' is a specific cultivar of a red japanese maple. You must also consider whether or not it is a weeping red dissectum (fine lacy leaves) or an upright palmatum (star shaped leaves). 'Red select' is one of many red dissectum cultivars (lacy and weeping). I think 'red select' is a seedling from 'inaba shidare' (guys I know Vertrees claims that they are one in the same, but I have convincing information that says otherwise). They are similar, but some claim there are distinct differences (and by distinct I mean practically with a magnifying glass). Other similar common cultivars include 'crimson queen', 'tamukeyama', 'garnet', and the newer 'red dragon'. A couple of good red upright cultivars include 'bloodgood' and 'fireglow'. Search these names and this should shed some light on what the differences are.
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ishboz
Original Author
13 years ago
I only planted them in the spring but they made it through a very brutal dry summer. I do not have an irrigation system and hand water but I underwatered at times for sure. I bought all these as containered plants and put them in the ground in May or so. While it hasn't been very long I think the positive reaction by some of them to the intense heat here and humidity bodes very well for these particular cultivars in the future here. The plants were 2-3 yos when purchased.

The maple that has been the poorest performer is Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum'. None of my maples died though so far. Knock on wood. I know I still have a long way to go with these but I posted my findings just to try and add to the amount of info and experiences in the hotter climates. All of the following have done well for me with the heat and humidity but not all are in full sun:
Butterfly
Waterfall
Hefner's Red Select
Vitifolium
Aconitifolium
Skeeter's Broom
Beni Otake
Oregon Sunset
Orangeola
Omurayama
Moonfire
Moonrise
Purple Ghost (moved once needed more shade)
Crimson Queen
Red Dragon (needs more shade than it gets....it gets all day sun and will be moved this fall)
Lionheart

Again I haven't had these in long enough to claim 100% success by any means but the spring through summer performance by these young plants has been quite remarkable. They were purchase from a private grower in Florida who has been narrowing down which cultivars work well here. So I am building my garden off of other experienced people's finding as well as my own experiments.

I do hope the Jordan and Summer Gold are all they are cracked up to be. I plan to give them a lot of sun :)
gardningrandma
13 years ago
Let us know how many are still standing in a couple of years. That's when you'll know if something is truly tolerant of conditions. Long after the supplemental irrigation stops and the roots are growing in native soil.
CEFreeman
11 years ago
I have total sun and my climate is evidently very similar to north FLA/southern GA. According to Parks & Planning, anway.

I was wondering how your Jordan did? I'm considering adding this to my collection. However, sun being the issue, I thought I'd check.

Thanks,
C.

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