Japanese Maples come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, colors, growth habits and foliage types, offering the home gardener a myriad of choices to suit each individual’s taste. All of these trees get outstanding autumn color, but gardeners should note their spring foliage tones as well. Here at Sunnyside Nursery we stock over 120 cultivars of these garden beauties, and our patrons are often pleasantly surprised with the bright yellow, orange, red, purplish, pinky, or simple bright pea green options. As we cross over the spring equinox and they begin to leaf out for the season, it is the perfect opportunity to pause and admire the fabulous spring color and contrast they provide.
Maples are excellent choices for focal points in the landscape - true specimens to be enjoyed in all seasons, if you ask this gardener. Many of them will also thrive in a container for a number of years as well, offering plant addicts like me who are out of garden bed space another avenue to grow yet another one. Everyone has empty pots or room to add a pot somewhere, right? Either way, Japanese Maples thrive in our specific climate when two main issues are addressed…
Drainage: The kiss of death for these trees is poor drainage and/or heavy clay soils. When the water table comes up in the winter rainy season, this often ends in a rapid spring decline from a disease called verticillium wilt. I see this here and there, year after year, and honestly have fought this in spots in my own yard, right in Everett, for 20 years. Please ensure you have adequate drainage to grow them, and planting on gentle berms of raised soil may help as well.
Placement: Paying attention to your sun/shade situation is important with all plants, and Japanese Maples are no exception. All will thrive as understory trees, or in part sun/part shade. Many with red to burgundy foliage with flourish in all day hot sun, while other variegated or reticulated cultivars enjoy a lot more shade. In addition, look at your site to determine the ultimate size that you can handle. With so many options, choose wisely and avoid butchering your specimen down the road in order to fit into an area that is simply too small.
With a bit of background on maples taken care of, let’s get down to the business at hand and talk about spring color. Here at the nursery (and in my own yard), I can see bright colors starting to pop everywhere. This to me is what Japanese Maples are all about! They offer distinct spring foliage options, then evolve to other colors through spring/summer before finally lighting up our landscapes with glowing fall colors. There are far too many good choices in all honestly, but here are a few flavors I recommend - offering you a variety of color choices and growth habit options to ponder for your outdoor spaces…
‘Shindeshojo’: To me, this is still the quintessential spring foliage maple with bright fuchsia-red fading into lightly variegated green foliage in late spring/summer. A great specimen choice for a mostly sunny garden.
‘First Flame’: Part of the newer Pacific Rim collection from Iseli Nursery, it sports outstanding fiery orangey-red spring foliage that turns more green over summer. A larger growing option for sun.
‘Orangeola’: A sweet laceleaf (weeping) choice with orangey-red spring color and all kinds of character with its twisting and weeping structure. Color will continue to impress all summer long, with a mix of greens and orangey-red tip growth.
‘Mikawa Yatsubusa’: To me, this is one of the best maples around, with super bright pea green spring color, red petioles and outstanding layered structure. The perfect choice for both pots and in-ground planting in sun or part shade.
‘Mikazuki’: The “Crescent Moon” maple is a striking reticulated foliage option with a showy combo of pink, red and green leaves in spring, staying nicely variegated all summer. An excellent choice for morning sun to shade, or in a woodland setting.
‘Ryusen’: Another great bright pea green spring option, but this one grows in a unique weeping habit and can be trained almost like a vine, if you like to have some garden fun and grow something unique.
‘Summergold’: Outstanding bright yellow spring foliage fades into limey-yellow for the summer. A great choice for a large understory specimen with partial shade.
‘Geisha Gone Wild’: A fun variegated foliage option with hot pinks, white and green in spring that continues to show good color all summer. A manageable size for yard placement and good in pots as well.
There are so many more good ones to catch your eye, and one can honestly get lost a bit when shopping for these garden beauties at local nurseries. You will notice I mentioned no specific “red” ones for spring – that is because they are all spectacular! From ‘Fireglow’ to ‘Moonfire’ to ‘Rhode Island Red’ to ‘Twombley’s Red Sentinel’ and many more, all are simply stunning from spring all through the summer. With all the green background we have around, a red/burgundy/purple flavor will surely pop in your landscape.
Now is a great time to peek at your options in garden centers, selection is at a maximum and many are now beginning to show their spring foliage color. Talk to a Certified Professional Horticulturist about your options, you will be welcomed into the circle of Japanese Maple addicts with open arms. Japanese Maples were one of my first plant addictions, and as a full-fledged “plantophile” these days, they continue to remain near and dear to my heart. I coined the term “Acer palmatumitis” years ago – my mythical contagious disorder that involves the addiction to all things Japanese Maple. You will know if you have it, as I do, because there is always room for just one more of these beauties in your landscape somewhere!
