To repeat what has been said a number of times before, there are Red Maples (Acer rubrum) in varying cultivars and then there are other cultivars of maples whose leaves turn red in the fall. There are also maples, mostly Japanese maples but other species as well, whose leaves come in red or reddish, some of whose leaves stay red and some turn green. The TRUE Red Maple is the A. rubrum, so called, as far as I know, because the flowers, which are very early before the leaves, are very red, as are the early stages of the samaras. Any other tree, if of another variety of maple (Norway, silver, etc.) MAY have the word red somewhere in its name, or have red leaves all summer or in the fall, but it will NOT BE a Red Maple, although it may be a red-colored maple, for example, the above mentioned Crimson King Norway Maple. Sorry for the lecture, but it's a pet peeve, and so you got the rant....

the only problem you have.. in obtaining the plant you want... is relying on local retail stores ... bigboxstores buy in huge lots .. maybe 10,000 plants to ship around the country ... you arent going to find rarities in such a circumstance ... local nuresries.... will also only order stock that is common and 'asked for' .. you might ask now.. for delivery in spring ... in z5 ... trees mail order very easily ... for planting around 4/1 .... you can get whatever you want... delivered to your door .. a 3 foot whip... will most likely outgrow a potted plant in 5 years time ... and a lot of nurseries.. just mail order the plant and stick it in a pot.. and triple the price for you ... the first thing you need to do is PROPERLY ID the plant you have ... post pix of the leaves .. with fall color .. and the trunk .. and maybe a branch.. some of these folks are real good with that ... and then buy another similar tree .... whether it is a black or not ... or have yours grafted.... by a custom grafting house... not all that expensive.. but you will definitely get a duplicate of what you have ... or even better... diversify.. and plant another maple.. oh god.. did i just say that.. lol ... where are you??? ... there is a great tree farm in mansfield OH ... if you are willing to drive a bit??? ken

I have several Black Walnuts and many thriving Spruce, both White Spruce and Norway Spruce. One is growing directly under a huge Walnut. Red bud is supposed to be juglone tolerant and mine are doing well so far. All evidence is questionable. If you search this site using juglone as your search word, you will find that some people can grow one thing and someone else can't. I've gotten so I blame every failure on the Walnuts, but if I get a grip and ask myself: "What else could be causing this?" I almost always find an alternate explanation. I don't think the Walnuts blanket an area in poison and stop everything from growing. It seems more hit and miss. I do have one narrow band, about 18" wide, which must follow the path of a root. I call it the valley of death.

I have 26 Japanese Maples, most purchased as very tiny first or second year plants, and I do no winter protection on them and haven't lost a one in nine years. Get them well established with proper watering this fall, mulch them well, and leave them alone. As far as the Crape Myrtles, in my own experience it depends on how the winter winds move throughout your yard. I will give you a hint on managing them even though it makes me look like an idiot- When I first moved here in '07 I had no idea how to manage many of this zones plants. Spring was an extremely amazing time- I had come from South Florida, so spring was a novelty to me. Every morning I would rush out to look at my new plantings to see buds or leaves. I got busy doing my spring chores- pruning and so on. My first year with Crape Myrtles here (we had them in SoFla as well) they never budded. I always thought the winter had gotten them and pruned them back knowing that the roots had probably survived and they had. They always came back, but seemed to die back every winter. I saw nice big mature Crape Myrtles in my neighborhood, though, and couldn't figure out where I went wrong. Then I had a family emergency year where I had next to no time to garden. I would go out, check the Crape Myrtles for growth and think "I really need to cut those back" but I could never find the time. Finally in about May they budded out! All up and down the stems, too- not just from root growth. That's my very long winded way of saying that they can be VERY late to leaf out. All those years I had cut them back in my early spring frenzy I had been cutting off viable stems. DUH me. I do no winter protection here except for a very few mophead hydrangeas. I try to select good plants for my zone, grow them well, and aside from that they are on their own. I think your plants will be fine.