Lion's Head Japanese Maple (Shishigashira)

I saw a Lion's Head Maple and am seeking one for my yard. Any input anyone has regarding this type of Maple is welcome, please let me know! Thanks!

I personally prefer Lions Mane as the commom name I think it is a better description as pr. leaf form and shape... This tree is very nice and very winter hardy and leafs out relativly late (good) ... It is also one of my favorites ... It likely will not become a big Jm even in primo areas... more of an accent tree and sort of bushy most places. It really doesn't like alot of sun reguardless of what is written...maybe with time but not when young some afternoon shade is best. How they will do in your area is a question...even if you saw "one" it may have been a fluke or a micro climate ...but it will likely do ok as long as your soil is not unpalitable as I said it is hardy...I would be more concerned with summer heat/sun than winter cold. and whether you have rock hard soil or other soil problems. This tree is used by bonsai folks also and will do well in containers .which is always an option ..David

This isn't a great picture, but this Lion's Head or Lion's Mane is in our nursery. I'm not sure if my boss wants to sell it since it was in his display garden for many years. It's 3-4' tall and 3' wide. If he did sell it it would probably go for around $650.00 +/-. We moved it to a part shade area because the full sun was scorching the leaves in the display garden. You can see the display garden at this link.

http://shafferlandscapes.com/

This tree must have been trained, as I have one that is about twice as high (but doesn't have quite the caliper) that I bought a couple of years ago for a little less than 100 dollars.

I found two jpegs in your display garden but have no idea if that tree was in it ...a better link would help or better directions inside site ..
. The tree that shows above is very nicely branched ...mine does not have extended branching yet more close branching and twiggy ..it is VERY slow growing here additionally held back by last springs debacle but survived it with little injury. Mine which is much younger ...yours is a rather old tree I'd say .. and mine has a much taller differnt branch structure and low graft whereas yours seems to have been trained to branch outward almost immideately above the medium high graft with no definite central leader. A good example of training a tree or developing one that had it's central leader die or that V'd out ...right after grafting...not uncommon in northern parts or JM's in general ... a very nice specimen... I wrote this and forgot to post it it was minimized ;>0000 didn't post this before Matt .so sorry for any repitition David

That's a beautiful tree Shrubbs. I can see why he wants that sort of money for it. I noticed that it is in the ground. Is there a pot there or is it root pruned?

If you look at the mulch ring...2 years ago that is the ball we put on it. The depth of the ball was the same as the width. We moved it that way because it had been years since it's installation. We have an employee that is a pruning guru. His primary job to to go to certain clients houses and prune specific plant material.

How nice to have a 'pruning guru'. I sure could use one around here.

One of the best Japanese maples in the world. Beautiful bright green in the spring. Nice texture to the leaves, and nice fall color. Best of all it performs well in the Sun compared to many other Japanese maples. You may want to try Laceleaf nursery in Gig Harbor, Washington or Pacific Coast Maples www.pacificcoastmaples.com in California for Shishigashira.

Wow, that is a really nice tree, guru indeed.

Here are a couple of pics from my local nursery, not nearly as nicely shaped. These pictures are a couple of years old.

Leaf closeup

One more

I have gotten a small one this year off eBay. It is a recent graft. I expect it will take a while to get to a reasonable size, but the price differential is significant.

This is one of a couple of dozen JM's I picked up in this manner this year. I plan to watch them over the year and summarize appropriateness for my garden and area before I spend 8-10 times this much on a larger tree. It may take a little longer, but hopefully it will help me pick about half a dozen trees that will go well with local growing conditions and still give some significant variety in color and form, not to mention varying degrees of shade.