Remember to sow the seeds as fresh as you can and wait a couple of seasons (winters) for them to germinate. I didn't know they needed two winters or a cold-warm-cold to start them up and dumped my containers. The next year I had three seedlings but they died the next winter. It's a tough one to get going here.

Mona, I think in Manitoba a Japanese maple (planted in the ground) will always remain a small shrub. I just don't see it getting that large to be able to provide shade. First, they are slow growing, second, any part of the plant not winter protected will die back. One hardier substitute might be the Korean Maple (acer pseudosieboldianum) but even then it's slow growing and multi-trunked, it could one day be similar in size to a large lilac than a tree. Back to the topic of winter protection, I revised my winter protection method this year. Previously I surrounded the small 2-foot high Japanese Maple with a cardboard box (flaps cut off) and filled in and around the plant with peat moss and leaves. This worked very well, but was time consuming. Plus, the novelty of winter protecting things wore off. This year I mulched the base of the tree with a few inches of peat moss. After it snowed I wrapped quilt batting around the plant (secured with twine) and shoveled snow around the base of the small tree, maybe a foot deep. I then placed a thick plastic garbage can over the plant sort of pushing it into the snow that surrounded the tree. Once we had more snow I piled mounds of it around the garbage can in a drift. The Japanese maple survived winter with some tip kill to the branches but otherwise fine. Another advantage may be that I have my maple on the north side of the house near the foundation, which might be a sheltered spot as well as getting no sun in winter (the sun might prematurely heat things up and make the tree break dormancy in spring). When we often grow out of zone plants we often think of situating them in the warmest micro-climate in the yard, but I think sometimes that's not a great idea. You want a sheltered spot with dependable snow cover that doesn't melt halfway through winter. Glen

John, it is easier to start from cuttings. select shady/damp area in your garden, cut branched with 2 buds/nodes, dip in rooting hormone, stick in holes in the ground - cover with Soda bottles (cap off). You can also root the cutting in a 2L soda bottle as a mini green house, then the bottle in a very shady location in your garden, it should root in three to four weeks.

You'll get better germination if you sow before they have dried for any length of time. So, let them turn brown on the tree, then pick them before they fall and lay on the ground drying.....