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. It has beautiful red leaves that turn a darker shade of red in the fall.Butterfly Japanese Maple $79.50 – $139.50 The green foliage turns red and purple in fall.Īcer palmatum ‘Garnet’ is a small weeping Japanese maple that grows 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 metres) tall, but spreads out 8 to 12 feet (2.4 to 3.6 metres) wide. Most dwarf Japanese maples grow to around 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 metres) tall so they’re perfect for small gardens.Īcer palmatum ‘Coonara Pygmy’ – grows to about 6.5 feet (2 metres) tall and has green foliage that turns orange and red in fall.Īcer cirinatum ‘Little Gem’ grows 3 feet (1 metre) tall to form a rounded shrub. ![]() Dwarf maple varietiesĭwarf Japanese maples are slow-growing compact trees that are ideal for containers, shrub borders and even bonsai. They need a period of cool winter temperatures to stimulate the buds to grow so they’re not suited to tropical or subtropical areas. ![]() Japanese Maples are hardy in USDA zones 5 to 8 but in warm areas young trees will do best in a spot with some afternoon shade to avoid leaf scorch. They grow well in full sun or partial shade but the leaves tend to be brighter in color when they receive full sun. Japanese maple trees (Acer palmatum) are beautiful trees with spectacular colorful leaves in fall.
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