![]() Of the many forms introduced and bred, the most popular are those with red summer leaves those with finely divided leaves and those that are pendulous and cascading. The Japanese name momiji means the hand of a baby. The Swiss botanist and doctor Carl Peter Thunberg named the tree Acer palmatum, because the leaf looked like a hand. In the 19 th century travelers and botanists began to bring trees back from Japan and they quickly became very popular with gardeners in Europe and America. Although some purists only grow original Japanese varieties, many of the best and most popular were developed in the West and have been introduced back into Japan. Many forms were developed in Japan and these of course have Japanese names, while others were bred in Europe or America and usually have English-sounding names. Japanese gardeners began to collect these forms, and produce more from seedlings, so that today at least a thousand different forms are known. Unlike many plants, where each individual is very much the same as another, these trees are naturally very variable, with different leaf-forms, colors and tree shapes. More than an excuse for a picnic, momiji-gari is considered a lofty spiritual experience. Japanese maple produce small flowers in spring and the seeds are the small ‘keys’ typical of all maples, which twirl down to the ground in fall.įor many centuries the Japanese people have travelled to the countryside to see the fall color, like east-coast Americans admiring the sugar maple. However the leaves are much smaller than on typical maple trees and since many garden forms have deeply divided leaves they may not be immediately recognized as maple trees. Being a maple tree it has the typical lobed leaf, with veins spreading out like the fingers of a hand and ending in five to nine lobes, with one lobe in the centre of the leaf. This tree grows in the shade of larger forest trees, which is why it is more shade-tolerant than most other deciduous trees. The bark is smooth and gray on older limbs, but green, red or sometimes pink on younger shoots. As a wild tree it grows 20-35 feet tall, occasionally more, and usually has several trunks, rather than a single central trunk. Japanese maples grow wild across the hills of Japan, Korea and into Mongolia and Russia too. I have an azalea near that spot now, doing well and beginning to bloom.Butterfly Japanese Maple $79.50 – $139.50 By that time, the specimen down the street had also departed to grace that great Shinto temple in the sky. My neighbor had to give up on his too, after a couple of years. The plant (probably a palmatum type) just wasn't happy, and strained towards the light so hard that it became a leggy eyesore. This area gets some direct morning sun, and dappled shade thereafter. in diameter, excavated all the soil (mostly clay) to a depth of 2 ft., and filled it with the recommended planting medium. As I recall, we made careful inquiry into the most promising cultivars then available, and bought our plants at Rainbow Gardens, after discussion with their knowledgeable staff. We were inspired by a guy down the block who had a lovely one on a north facing berm. Some years ago, my neighbor and I decided we just had to have one of these. ![]() I wouldn't underestimate the amount of light some of these require. Here is a link that might be useful: Flame Leaf Sumac They were right there under my nose the whole time! They can be purchased in nurseries that specialize in natives, but can also be found growing all over the place. Their flame red leaves are stunning in the fall. They have attractive trunks and can be pruned and shaped into wonderful ornamental specimen trees. And that's what I've decided to use in place of the Japanese Maple. Low and behold it was not a Maple at all but a beautiful Flame Leaf Sumac.a native tree. Thinking that it might be an adapted Japanese Maple I pulled the car over, turned around and went back to it. sized bright red tree with a graceful multiple trunk. Then I was driving down the road one fall day and passed this beautiful small/med. Of course I wouldn't take 'no' for an answer so I stubbornly tried planting them a couple of times, but without any luck. I was warned that between the high temps and alkaline soils it just wasn't a viable plant for this area. I love Japanese Maples and an Asian garden design so tried really hard to find one that would work here in Central Tx.
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