FWIW, I had a JM at our other house. I planted Nandina (the shorter kind) encircling it. When I put them in they looked very cute, but they ultimately got about 3' tall. I went back to my old house a month or so ago, and the whole JM area looked like a big...blob. You could no longer see the JM trunk, so the whole thing looked like one large shrub. My aunt has that house now, so she and my mom moved the Nandinas and replaced them with a groundcover (not sure which one they went with). I haven't seen it yet but hear it looks much better. I have two threadleaf JMs here. One is underplanted with dwarf Mondo grass, and the other with Heuchera. I think (hope) this will be a combo they can grow into. I especially like the look of the dwarf Mondo - the grass is a nice textural complement to the foilage of the JM. :)

I'm in zone 5 Ottawa,Canada. Zone 4 for you in the US. They used to say you couldn't grow J.maples around here. But for 20 years I always could, and have never lost any, except 2 variegated ones. I have about 25 varieties, a sort of J. maple forest in my back yard & I am running out of room. Good thing they are dwarf trees, unlike our native maples that grow to 50 ft. I wholesale them from (grown in)BC, zone 7-8. They do not loose hardiness by grafting and propagating in a milder climate. The hardiness is built into the plant. I will say that they can sometimes be slow to establish, and this is the important part. Any tree should be planted early and well cared for in the first season, so it is well established going into it's first winter. I don't believe in bare root trees doing well, too slow to establish, or over wintering in a pot. They should always be planted in the ground and well mulched. I do think they prefer a more acidic soil. Ours is neutral approx. 6-7ph, so I spread sulphur everywhere every couple of years to acidify a little.(I don't like pink hydrangeas, prefer blue) I saw a study once, out of U of Michigan I think, where when they tested plants, and they found that plants growing in acidic soil seemed a little hardier than the same plants growing in more alkaline soils. In the past I have used geo-textile fleece as a winter cover for the first few winters, but snow makes a great insulator as well. I get a bit of tip dieback sometimes, but it doesn't matter since they grow back very well, as if they were pruned. There is a sort of wilt going around in J. maples lately, others have noticed as well. It doesn't hurt the tree, it just attacks some of the newest growing tips as they are finished flushing out in summer....sort of self pruning. We regularly get to minus 22 celcius (-10 far.)here most winters, with minimal problems. Even with last winter, the worst in 20 yrs., there were no losses. The only damage I ever notice is the heavy snow pack in spring, will sometimes crack the weeping types as it weighs them down and melts. Variegated types do seem less hardy, possibly due to the fact that variegation is a mutation and therefore weaker. Red and green types are perfectly hardy. They all seem hardier as they get older. thanks, Rich

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.

Question. Does anybody have a recommendation for a nice red maple that would compliment koto no ito? I planted koto no ito toward the front of my property last year and now have decided I want to plant a red maple behind it and maybe a 3rd yet to be chosen small tree to its left front (when viewed from the street). Koto no ito is yellow green with very thin leaves so I’m thinking my best choice might be a wider leafed red maple. I’m in zone 6/7NJ and the tree would get no more than 3 hours of direct afternoon sun kinda coming from the back of my property and then about an hour of very late evening filtered light. There’s 16ft of space between my driveway and the lousy sidewalk close to my front porch. It measures 17 1/2ft from koto no itos trunk to the sidewalk. In the pictures, I put an empty black pot on the spot where I think the new tree would go. I’d imagine the new tree would have to be a medium sized tree. I think I’m looking for something that would hold its red color throughout the season. I don’t think I want a common bloodgood, beautiful yes, but, everyone seems to have one. I’ve been thinking about choosing an Atrolinere, Beni otake, emperor1, twonblys red sentinel or fireglow. Or, maybe a large leaved japonicum like Dancing Peacock. Maybe Shindeshojo? But, neither of the last two are red all season. Grrrrrr What tree would make Koto no ito pop out in the landscape? I’ve been researching maples for 3 months now and want to get the design right. I feel like I’m driving myself crazy. I would really appreciate any suggestions that you maple folks might have. Thank you so very much in advance. Dan.