Hi! I live in Hickory Hills (SW suburb of Chicago). Been lurking (and occasionally posting) here for about six years now. It's great! I love all the pictures, plus the forum is so informative and friendly. My hosta collection is rather small (just under 40 varieties) but I'm planning my first trip ever to Hornbaker's soon, so that should help! Lisa

Mike, thank you! I do indeed have a picture or 5 or 6 from my back deck. But you must promise not to laugh. I have gardened for a long time -- but in the back of a big brick colonial in full sun. After 10 years I had a really lovely Southern garden built around a pretty carefully curated collection of ~150 roses, from Old Blush on up through the ages. The old teas and noisettes were my favorites. THAT was maintenance, LOL. But just as you note, that was also about (ever expanding) beds,... Life changes and now I am single again, caring for a very sick mother who lives with me, communing to work in Philadelphia, trying to rehab a house and learning to garden in a new way. I mention all this to beg a little bit of a pass on my unimpressive results to date -- its hard to find time to study and learn! That said, what time I do have is devoted not to trips to the tile store, but to this -- there's an image "just below the surface" -- its compulsion. And given how precious that time is, it feels awful to be floundering! I am so grateful for your note. The site is not easy to photograph because when the sun is out, the camera really exaggerates the shadows; therefor I'm uploading shots taken on overcast days. The setting is a suburban woodland of ginormous red, white and chestnut oaks and tulip poplars that slowly are giving way to runs of American beech. It is hillside watershed into a Potomac river tributary. Soil is two or three decades of leaf litter sitting on top of marine clay, and that clay is important to keep stable. The backyard is on the south side of the house -- the sun travels right over my roof line, is blotted by 2:00 p.m. by a big old white oak on my west wall. It is a pie shaped lot, the narrow end deep in the woods. The first picture is from last fall, looking at the back of the house from about half-way to the back property line. That's metasequoia "Miss Grace" planted high on some big rocks (that can be repurposed eventually). On the far left, a very old, not terribly lovely Fosters holly (I think) -- the end of a screen of now 18 footers that I've been trying to rehab with pruning but... The second photo is from early this spring-- my little Lilliputian garden secreted among those great big trunks. [All the cryptomeria here took a bad hit with the freeze/thaw cycle this spring]. I was okay with the idea of a "grotto" as the best I would be able to do in the shadows. But when the big oak off my deck that so intimately connected the house to the woods finally gave up and came down, everything changed. In the photo below, the rocks along the property line on the right (which extends another 20 feet beyond the rocks) I put there with the idea of filling in the grade a bit, but want someone trained in water/erosion control to keep me from making a mistake I might regret. I imagined, and still do, a small pondless falls next to the big stump on the far right -- not for splash, just for some sense of movement. Now that I am thinking bolder, I also imagine that the "source" for that falls is a very shallow "destination" pond roughly behind the azaleas (in the photo below it would be mostly screened by the top of the variegated dogwood). The dogwood is Samaritan -- just one of many poor choices/placements I've made -- it will get too big to between the sun and everything that is behind it. The river stones I was just playing with. Those will go away. You can just make out the deck coffee table in the photo below, where I imagine a bench would be. The Nootka (oddly my favorite thing in the whole yard-- I love weeping forms and this one just makes me smile) also is poorly placed, probably should be snug up against the big stump to backdrop the vignette of a the falls, with a red dissectum in there somewhere (I have 1 gallon Shaina, Temukayama, Red Dragon, and Orangeola waiting for homes), and a bigger boulder than I have. I also went with Alice hydrangeas on the left for scale, but honestly I do not like them, at least not now -- they are coarse -- another variety would be lovelier. Or something else fronting that stand of oaks. The Atlas Cedar was another inexpensive chance taken -- I'm fond of him but tall as he is, he'll get no respect inn that spot. Apricot carpet roses in front of the hydrangea were meant to help call him out. Not shown here are a recently purchased an "at your own risk" 6 foot Seiryu that needs a home and an Omurayama that I imagine on the property line next to the "pondless" pond, this side the stump. And Red Sentinel, back there just to the left of the wood pile, is not his best self in that shade, neither red nor sentinel-like. Seems like his columnar shape should be next to a trunk. LOL, Where do I start from here? Lay in the hardscaping, re-position the existing trees...purchase many more... but this time with something like a plan. I sure could use a steady hand to guide me..

"Full sun is the way to go!" That may be the consensus here for whatever reason but full sun is NOT the way to go and virtually every single Japanese maple specialty nursery and JM authority will clearly indicate that afternoon shade or partial shade is a preferred location for any JM variety. Here are just a few excerpts from the websites or text articles of some of the most well recognized growers of JM's....... Provide morning sun and afternoon shade - Mendocino Maples Morning sun and afternoon shade are ideal for Japanese Maple trees. Filtered sunlight is best. - Southern Living Japanese maples will grow best in a sheltered position. Red and purple leaved cultivars need some sun to develop fully their dark hues. Variegated Japanese maples need partial shade to prevent the afternoon sun from scorching the foliage. Green-leaved forms tolerate full sun, but are best in dappled shade as very bright conditions can sometimes cause scorch. - Royal Horticultural Society I will make this straight-forward statement here, that you will also see on many Japanese maple related sites. The best possible setting for any Japanese maple is: MORNING SUN AND AFTERNOON SHADE or ALL DAY LIGHTLY FILTERED SUN. Even plants that do okay in full sun or a lot of shade will benefit from this placement no matter where you live (the only exception are a very few extremely sun sensitive cultivars that should be in deep shade). They will generally have less leaf burn and better color throughout the growing season in this preferred placement. - Davidsan's Maples The Japanese refer to the maples as the ‘little girls’ and the pines as the ’fathers’. In their native habitat the pines provide protection from the intense sun and wind. Though most of the trees will do well in full sun in a mild climate where temperatures are seldom above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the heavily variegated trees will typically burn even in milder climates if exposed to afternoon sun. All of the trees will grow well in partial shade or the dappled light in the under story of a large tree. - Essence of the Tree Even though 'Glowing Embers', 'Trompenburg', 'Emperor I', and many of our other cultivars do well in full sun, it is recommended that you plant your maple in a place that does not receive direct sunlight after 12 noon, especially if your summers have temperatures reaching above 100 degrees more than five days each year. - Pacific Coast Maples Ideally, provide dappled shade; if too much the plants grow slowly and the purple types become more green; too little and they may literally cook in the summer sun. - Michael Dirr Protection from late afternoon and evening sun will reduce leaf scorch, sun scald and reduce the amount of watering necessary to keep the soil cool and moist. Also plants under stress are more likely to develop diseases and insect damage. Having a property with large existing shade trees to plant your Japanese maple under makes a perfect environment. Such filtered or dappled shade is ideal for Japanese maples. - Japanese Maples online Of course you can plant your tree wherever you like but making the assumption that full sun is the best or preferred siting is far from accurate and could lead to some unfortunate consequences depending on where you are located. That's one of the problems with these online forums......you can get a lot of anecdotal advice from hobby gardeners that really may have little to no practical application.

I will second cearbhaill as I do not have anything remotely local or regional with JM selection. Through mail order I have been able to successfullly plant and grow more than 130 cultivars and 175 total JMs in the hot and humid SE (zone 8b). I have used many online sources and have had a variety of experiences. Since similar threads of this many years ago helped me get started and find sources, I thought doing the same could possibly be beneficial for others. As noted, these are my personal experiences and maybe be different than what others have experienced. Maplestone Ornamentals - excellent website, primarily smaller 1-2 or 2-3 year old grafts. Very good quality and good prices on plants and shipping. Maples N More - small family business, plants on the small size but unique varieties, good prices, responsive to fixing issues Mr Maple - I will no longer use them due to dissapointing issues. They sell lots of liners potted up to 1 gallon that have not come close to filling in the pot with roots. Essentially liners with extra dirt for 50 bucks. Quality has been inconsistent. Have not been impressed with bigger sizes and the shipping costs either. Iconic Gardens - they sell through ebay or their website. Great value, huge plants with the ability to get up to 5 year grafts for a great price in smaller pots that can ship for reasonable amount of money. Quality and selection are good. Maple Ridge Nursery - great website for descriptions of how each cultivar responds to my hot humid SE conditions. I have recieved healthy but undersized plants. Can be expensive both for plants and shipping. Davidson's - one of the most extensive collections both as reference material online and to purchase. Good quality, knowledgeable, responsive. Only downside is very expensive. Whitman Gardens - best value IMHO. Very big plants, healthy, extensive selection, straight forward knowledge and advice, Can get huge plants in smaller pots for great price on plants and shipping. Conifer Kingdom - nice website with pictures of actual plants. Can get larger sizes. Good quality, more limited selection. Pricing varies with some good deals and some quite oddly expensive that does not always match rarity of plant. Good customer care. Oriental Garden Supply - difficult website to navigate. Can get big sizes. Limited availability of many listings with many out of stock. Good quality plants at good prices. Topiary Gardens - excellent customer care with extensive selection of high quality 1,2,3 gallon plants that sell out quickly. Fair reasonable prices and shipping. Japanese Maples and Evergreens - they are on Amazon and other places. There are so many complaints about everything from horrible plants to horrible service I have stayed away myself. Acer1987 (Ebay). If you have the time to grow liners to big trees, this site has massive number of cultivars for good prices. Good customer care. I will otherwise second the opinions above of East Fork (expensive), Essence of Tree, Mendicino. Others have come and gone that I liked (Quality Maples for instance) that still have website up but are closed. Wish I had the opportunities that gardengal has with the range of great NW nurseries to shop from, but in the mean time I will keep Fed Ex busy! Thanks to all who have posted on this site over the years. I have been mainly lurking for more than a decade learning much and putting that knowledge to work.