More J. Maple questions

My son is moving to a home on Signal Mountain, outside of Chattanooga and we have some sun/shade questions concerning Japanese Maples. From the photos he has sent the lot appears to be lightly shaded with mostly tall decidous trees with a few pines and other evergreens.

I know this is a good time to plant there and I have been growing 3 in pots for him but in my climate deep shade is necessary, things will likely be different in TN. They are A. Tamukeyama, A. Beni Fushigi and A. Villa Taranto. Does is matter if these go in sunny or more shady spots? Which way will the colors hold up better in his area?

I will advise he get a soil test done ASAP, any other suggetions?

Thanks for any insights.

TN still has pretty warm summers (I looked up Chattanooga & St. Helena Island and the average summer highs are virtually identical) If Signal Mountain is a real mountain then being at higher elevation might change things a bit, but otherwise I'd assume they'd want similar conditions as they do where you are. At the very least, I would avoid afternoon sun and make sure any sun they get is in the AM instead. The colors will do better in more sun but it's going to be a tradeoff between color and frying them.

Well, not exactly. Signal Mountain is at an elevation of 1790 ft and my marshy sea island home is at 14 ft, a big difference. Chattanooga would be zone 6b/7a and I am a 9a. The summertime high temps are almost exact because we are actually cooled a bit by the ocean breezes. We have very hot muggy nights that are another factor. He will be growing in a much more traditional growing climate. I have had a devil of a time keeping these trees alive, they are definitely not south coastal trees.

I would still avoid PM sun--TN summers are warm enough in the summer that PM sun is likely to fry them. I'm sure there are other aspects of your climate that make things more challenging for you so hopefully he'll have an easier time than you do, but hot summer sun is still hot summer sun and he's going to want to provide them some protection from that. If his lot is mostly shaded though it sounds like there would probably be plenty of good spots for them.

Thanks, I'll tell them to make note of where the sun is and extrapolate for the other seasons. I don't think Chattanooga is always as hot as it has been this past summer. It has been hellishly hot on the east coast this year. You are right about me having a challenging climate. So many plants that do well in the zone 9a Pacific NW would melt here because of the hot nights. Thankfully I have massive old Live Oaks that have shaded these JMs. They are growing in 24" pots and they never deveop the beautiful colors here.