Japanese Maples

Bloodgood is an upright, single-trunk Japanese maple with deeply lobed leaves that hold a consistent red-purple color through the growing season, which is why it is one of the most widely planted varieties. Emperor looks similar but leafs out about two weeks later in spring, helping it avoid damage from a late frost that can hit Bloodgood's earlier new growth. The remaining varieties on this page differ more in form and bark than in leaf color, from Sango Kaku's coral winter bark to the low, wide shape of Atropurpurea.

Sango Kaku earns the coral bark name from its young branches, which turn a bright coral-red color once the leaves drop in fall and hold that color through winter before fading as the wood ages. That makes it one of the few Japanese maples with a real reason to be planted where it is visible during the leafless months rather than only in the growing season. Its leaves are a lighter green than Bloodgood's, turning gold and orange in fall instead of staying red.

Yes, all the varieties sold here grow well in a large container for years, since a Japanese maple's root system stays smaller and more compact than a full size shade tree's. A 5 or 7 gallon tree moves into a patio pot right away, and repotting every few years into a slightly larger container with fresh soil keeps a potted maple healthy longer than leaving it in the same pot. Watering needs go up in a pot, since a container dries out faster than open ground.

A multi-stem Japanese maple sends up several trunks from ground level instead of growing from one central trunk, giving a fuller, clumping silhouette in about the same footprint a single-trunk tree would need. It reads differently in a bed than an upright variety like Bloodgood or Emperor, filling width at eye level rather than lifting a canopy on one clear trunk. Choose the multi-stem form where the goal is a dense, layered look rather than a tree you can walk or plant underneath.

A boxed Japanese maple, sold here up to a 60 inch box, gives an already-mature canopy and trunk caliper that a 5 or 15 gallon container tree takes years to reach. Larger boxes weigh several hundred pounds with the root ball and soil included, so they arrive by truck with delivery priced by weight and distance to your ZIP. A smaller container tree costs less and adapts faster, since a smaller root ball reestablishes sooner than a large one.

Dissectum 'Seiryu' carries the same finely dissected, lacy leaf found on other cut leaf Japanese maples, but it grows in an upright, vase-shaped form rather than the cascading, weeping habit most cut leaf varieties are known for. That makes it useful where a lacy leaf texture is wanted but a spreading, ground-hugging weeper would not fit the space. Its fall color runs gold rather than the red tones common on upright varieties like Bloodgood.