Any potting soil will do peat based stuff dries out fast so keep it to a minumin... you can root certain JM's but not easily... success rate is poor in my experience and not all varieties will do so ...most say keep two to three years before you get too attached since survival rate varies. Finally as stated over and over and ignored by unscrupulous ebay sellers and others... NO jm seeds are true to mother plant with any certainty so best to NOT name your seed as any specific cultivar ...just JAPANESE MAPLE SEEDS!!!! remember many of todays "new' cultivars were chosen from JAPANESE MAPLE SEEDED seedlings...I repeat NEW not the same...Thats not to say you can't have fun and find neat new plants but PLEASE refer to them as JM seeds as you correctly did in your subject line since that is REALLY all they are ...not that there is anything wrong with that ;>) David

If I may I'd like to remind that japanese maple seeds are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're gonna get. So just because the seeds come from a red variety or a laceleaf variety does not mean that the seedlings will be the same or even similar to that of the parent. There is a higher chance that they will be similar compared to seeds of a normal green japananese maple, but no guarantee.

JM's produce seeds in the fall. The pods are shaped like propellers and spin like little helicopters when they float to the ground. Many types of JM seeds will not germinate. Weeping type and others have to be propagated from cuttings. Acer Palmatum does germinate, but the tree needs to be mature to produce seeds. I have three JMs started from seeds that are five and six years old and probably will not produce seeds for at least another five years. You could try posting this on the Maple or Japanese Garden forum exchange.

Like most invasive species, it's all a matter of location, location, location!! Japanese honeysuckle is not an invasive species in the PNW (which shares a climate like much of the UK) and is commonly sold and grown, particularly L.j. 'Halliana' and L. j. 'Purpurea', which has a purple tint to the foliage and bicolored flowers. They have a wonderful fragrance when in bloom, especially in the evening, and attract hummingbirds. They also seem to attract aphids more than most other types of vining honeysuckle, which is not a plus :-) Considering the assortment of wonderful vining honeysuckles available that are NOT considered invasive, I see no reason to keep one in any area where this species IS considered invasive.