Gone JM Crazy

Hello from sunny (and I mean SUNNY) north Texas!

I have recently acquired an addiction to Japanese Maples and, based on the success I've had with one planted just a month ago in our backyard, I'm about to buy another, I think. We had one put in the front yard by landscapers 3 years ago -- unknown type, as we were away when the landscapers came in just before we moved in (it was part of the house sale) -- and it's doing very well. Because I like it so much, I tried planting one in a part sun/ part shade part of the backyard, and it is THRIVING. I love that little tree.

Here's a picture of it, photo left , at the head of a sidewalk to the new little playhouse cottage we built in the backyard the same month. (See below.) I believe this one has thrived because it gets a regular good drink *and* it's not exposed to too much of the hottest part of our sun, since it sits mostly under the moveable shade of two 70-year-old pecan trees overhead.

Just wanted to say hello and that I'm excited to see one whole forum related to Japanese Maples. I'm loving these trees and will enjoy looking at more photos / stories about them.

Welcome to DG Susannah! We do have fun here. Your garden is gorgeous. Lucky kids.

It's probably a Bloodgood which will end up to be a quite large tree. Can you take a photo of a leaf?

Welcome and what a lovely garden you have. You will get excellent advice here on choosing your next maple. If I might suggest, tell the folks here what the site for your maple is like and what color and size maple you have in mind, and they will come up with some ideas for you!

Laura

Great suggestion. Using the photo of the little cottage above, the maple would be probably 15-20 feet from the photo right side of the house above (thus, out of frame in the picture above). The area is frequently shaded -- the same 70-year-old pecans with very high branches braid across the sky up there, and behind the house along that fence is a whole row of very tall crepe myrtles, so they block a great deal of direct eastern sun on hot days. But the spot DOES get direct sun for 1-2 hours midday, when the sun drops directly down from overhead for just that short period. Otherwise its filtered sun until about 4:00, when it goes into shade.

The new JM really would have few to no height or branch width restrictions, unless it grew to 35-40 feet or more? The only caveat: the area I'm proposing to put it will have the house's sewer and gas lines maybe 10-15 feet away. They don't seem to be disturbed by the roots of the ancient pecans, which are VERY close, but I wasn't sure about the JM's roots, whether they go wide rather than down or are particularly hazardous to structures or ....?

If I wasn't clear about the proposed space, I can certainly take a picture. It won't be very pretty, but I think of that area as the new canvas for something fun. :-)

(The JM you can see in the picture above is in a very similar light orientation to the proposed space for the new one, though the one above gets afternoon sun for 1-3 hours instead of late morning sun for 1-2 hours. I was thinking the one above might be a Bloodgood, so am pleased to see from above that I probably guessed right!)

I'm wide open to suggestions about which kinds might work well there.

I noticed tonight that the one in front (unknown kind, put in by landscapers and now at least 15 feet tall), sure does have a lot of leaf scorch on it. Some of the western branches have dropped their leaves, and a lot of the branches have lost their baby leaves. :(

Good info...next thing to think about is probably the leaf color in summer...light green, green, red, orangey....and whether you want a "dissectum" or "regular" leaf. The dissectums are the fine leaved variety, while the others have a leaf more similar to the red one in your front yard. A third choice is a "full moon" variety, which has an almost round leaf with the cuts about a third to halfway down. Suggest looking at the DG "plant files" and enter "acer" into the genus and there are almost 500 varieties to drool over. Looking through here will give you an idea of what colors and shapes there are. Take the height and width with a grain of salt...depends on where you live and what conditions the tree is grown in, so don't count on something listed for 25ft being that...it could be shorter or taller. It sounds like you have options there, though. Another consideration is fall color. You might like something to contrast with your pecan trees. I forget what color they go...but it is something to think about.

Laura

Great info to know! Thank you!

The pecans aren't a factor. With pecan trees in Texas, we joke about their fall transitional behavior:
"green, brown, dead, down" -- and that about sums it up. I don't have any fall color trees in the backyard. They all just turn brown and drop ugly at this point! So this one little Bloodgood in the back is my first attempt at getting at least a little color into autumn, as well.

The space for the next tree is an area of the yard that we'd largely ignored, because when we first moved here, we had the sewer lines completely redone (original iron 1938 pipes! Eek! We saw a video of what was going on in those pipes -- eek! eek!) -- so the yard got very dug up and we turned our attention elsewhere while pipe was being laid, &tc. It ought to be something that looks pretty in concert with the little cottage, because the first view of it will be while standing on the little path in front of the cottage that you can see in the picture.

Maybe something that does a nifty yellow or something? At this point, I'm thinking any heat-hardy strain will certainly perk up that area immediately!

Not sure about the heat hardiness...but take a look at Acer Shirasawanum 'Aureum', "Golden Full Moon". It has very round leaves and a very light green color in spring and summer. It is one to drool over and you can really find a nice one in the "somewhat reasonable" price range...that is for a named japanese maple. I purchased one this spring for $130 which is the most expensive plant I have ever purchased. It is still in its nursery pot, and doing fine in the Virginia heat and humidity for me. Only a minor crisp on one or two leaves, probably due to me missing a watering or two in the 90-100 degree weather that has been common in the last few weeks. If that is too much money, you may be able to find a smaller one, but with the extremes of weather I know you can get in your area, I really recommend you look for a tree in the 3-4 foot range of height rather than smaller if you want to have a good chance at it overwintering. I have lost one 2 foot tree, and had a bloodgood (of all things) sustain some winter damage at the same height. They are normally very tough. Bigger is better, and it would be better to wait a month or two and get what you really want than to plant one in the heat right now. It can be done, but is riskier.

I mail ordered my first maple from Della http://nurserygirl1.tripod.com/ and I got a really nice small tree, packaged very professionally. She posts pics of her trees on her web site. Hers are in the 2-3 foot range, but seem well established. She answers emails very promptly and will send additional pics of a tree if needed. I found her prices very reasonable, even with shipping added on.

Laura

I have had severe problems with my golden full moon ...with leaf burn and NOT just tip and it only gets sun for about three hours morning sunlight a day ..it has shot out new leafs where I pulled off the old burnt ones but they are toasting too ..my autum moon right next to it had leaf burn from shipping during a really hot week the first part of july but the new leafs look basically fine ... I was gonna wait til fall and move the golden FMM it to mostly total shade ..but may be forced to do it really soon ..I would NOT recommend this tree for any place except to a spot with alot of shade like light ALL DAY shade or dappled shade...David

Thanks, David...obviously great info for both of us as mine is not yet planted in the yard. Any other recommendations?

Laura

keep in mostly shade or filtered sunlight ...maybe others have had better luck with GFM than I have so far with sun but it doesn't seem to like it one bit ...on the other hand I DON'T know whether it will be as golden in deep shade I think not so light full day shade is probably best ...a crunundrum..huh?? David

Susannah, I have a large Waterfall laceleaf maple I would trade or sell you. I have no shade and its not very happy right now. I have it under the patio roof but its still getting leaf burn. I'm going to try some more drought tolerant plants. Let me know if you are interested and we can work something out. I have a picture of it in the forums here from this spring.

Hey tobydmv! If you can point me to a picture, I'll take a look and see if it's syncs with what I have in mind. I certainly love the texture of the Waterfall laceleaf, and it would be very different from the other one in the backyard. What does it do in the fall in terms of color? Could be a good match!

Also ...how large is large? (I ask, because I'm recovering from an injury and find myself planting things that are fairly petite right now, since I'm coddling my back/neck.)

Thanks much for thinking of this option!

Here's the Golden Retriever smiling up at the Bloodgood (?). Its happy assimilation into the backyard (planted early July) is what's inspired me to go acquire more Japanese Maples. I love this little tree!

I'll trade you my waterfall maple for that dog....j/k good looking dog.

Susannah: You are a wonderful gardener! WOW! I am so impressed!

I've not had any JM's planted but have 3 red maples. I was thinking of putting a JM in my small front yard since they don't grow to large but you mentioned something about them liking shade. Please give more details so I won't kill one! Thanks!

Hi Tir_Na_Nog --

Boy, I am not the best one to advise on JMs, since I only have the two (one in front, one in back), but I can say that the Bloodgood in the back (the one you can see by the cottage and, in the separate photo, by the Golden Retriever above) is absolutely thriving in a filtered sun/shade environment. It gets about 30 minutes of direct western sun in the afternoon and that's it; the rest is all filtered light. I planted it in July and give it a little splash of a twice a day (this is not a soak, but just a brief drink from the hose), and it has no leaf scorch at all, has produced a lot of seeds, and seems to have added a lot of growth in a month.

The one installed by the landscapers in 2003 at the front of the house, however, is a much taller tree now but very, very scorched on the west side by sun/wind. Though it's in shade 3/4 of the day, that last 1/4 it gets a LOT of late afternoon/evening sun. The folks here have encouraged me with tales of hardiness and survival, so I'm hopeful -- but still, it's definitely not as happy as the Bloodgood in the back. Tobydmv has also indicated that the Waterfall JMs (such pretty trees) really like a lot of shade -- say 100% -- in Texas, but he could tell you much more about that than I could.

Thanks for the compliments on the garden! We've got a whole lot of trial-and-error going on back there, so thank you much!

Hmmm...I'll have to ask which JM's are good in our FULL TEXAS SUN in the Texas Gardening forum. Thanks for replying!

Tir, no palmatums can handle full Texas sun. Dont even think about it. Try a Shantung or Big tooth maple. They have pretty much the same leaf structure. I posted more in the Texas forum.

I also have a jm on the west side of my house under the awning. It only gets sun from about 3-5p and there is a redbud draping over it and its still blistered and burnt up. You really need an E or N location with 100% shade to avoid leaf burn.

Oh No Tir! dont do that to the JM! I hear you Toby! Mine is perfectly shaded and it still got burned! LOL@Toby! A big toothe Maple!