Just keep them outdoors in the pots they're in now, they're already preparing for dormancy. Keep them in an unheated garage over the winter, or just bury the entire pot in the garden (easier & prolly better). In spring, before buds move, lift the pot & bare-root the plant. Repot into a larger pot with an appropriate soil (search 'gritty mix' on this forum) and you're good for another year or two, depending on what size pot you use (how large). The nice thing about the gritty mix is it is very difficult to over-pot, so you can give roots lots of room, which promotes rapid growth. Timing is good because you can keep reading & learn all about how to care for your little charges over the winter months. ;o) Al Here is a link that might be useful: You might want to start reading here

I think, from your description, it is not the roots issue alone but perhaps shade problem. You can always condition the soil and provide nutrients but if there is too little sunshine and too much shade then you have limitations. The expert gardeners here belive that a lot of garden veggies can thrive where they can get min. of 5 hours sun, some may need a lot more some a little less. I think in colder zones sun does more than just to shine on, it is also a good source to warm up the soil. So then, 5 hrs. may be plenty ,say,in Florida but not enough in Idaho.

I've had the best luck with scale using hort oils. They cannot become resistant, it kills the scale throughout the life cycle, and since it's a suffocant, the only mortalities are the pests on the plant when you spray. It's very kind to beneficials in that respect. If done properly severe scale infestations can be halted rather dramatically. Care must be taken to prevent phytotoxicity and that's the biggest concern. But the damage is for the most part temporary and regrows if it does happen.

I agree with you gardengal, not to mention in my above post I errantly assume the owner will stay in the house indefinitely. I agree with the dwarf varieties. It appears to me that the yard isn't very big #1 so I doubt it is an insane amount of work. Its a huge focal point as it appears to be by the front door, about 12-14 foot long length by 8-6foot down to 0 wide, and a small grouping of lower growing Japanse Maples like a Tukeyama and Waterfall variety grouped together and trimmed once a year EVERY year would be pragmatic. My mom has a 40 year old 8 foot Tukeyama in full sun all day zone 9 FL gulf coast in an area half that size granted we have taken turns pruning it for its entire life. The Sun only reaching the front corner for one hour is a very good thing so I expect if you plant one the plants will reach up towards the sun so i would plant slightly closer to the wall than the walkway. Pad compaction could be an issue so I would be sure to amend the soil when planting. I would also be concerned about prolonged periods of drought as the bed is probably cut off from irrigation. A cheap irrigation design is to get 2 gallon food grade supermarket buckets, attach capped pvc running from the base of the base of the bucket perpendicularly, drill 1/16th in the pvc, and burry the line underneath the trees. Make sure you have a cap for mosquitoes and you can even put an ornamental pot on top or in front of to hide the bucket. Makes a great way to apply liquid fertilizer.