Experts, need your advice!

While there are various selections of Japanese maples considered quite tolerant of full sun positions, this is typically in an inground situation. And all varieties will be happiest in some shade during the hottest part of the day, especially in more southerly or hot climates........like NC :-) If considering planting in a container, then a JM is probably not the best choice. Inground you could get away with it but even very sun tolerant varieties like Bloodgood (which gets pretty darn big, btw) will bronze out or lose color in a full sun or strong sun situation.

And you will be waiting forever to get a pool of shade of much size. That will move with the movement of the sun.

Probably nearly all people who ask about shading a hot sitting area with trees need an architectural solution such as an arbor and fencing. For immediate, lower budget relief there is patio umbrellas.

Another thing about shade from a newly planted tree (in addition to the fact that it might take 10 years or more to get big enough to do even part of the job) is that the shadow will always be a broken one, with patches of sun that poke through, and one that moves in breezes or wind. So if you are trying to look at something while sitting beneath the tree, or would otherwise be unsettled by a shadow that is not continuous or dances around then anything less than a quite big, long-established (existing) tree is not going to work anyway.

Otherwise, the maple will be as slow as the magnolia, and the hollies aren't any more likely to damage properly constructing foundations than most small trees or large shrubs. In general, trees and shrubs that shoot up continue to go on shooting up and become too big for what most people want them for, when trying to hide an eyesore or get quick shade. And the ones that make nice long term features for smaller spaces are slow-growing - much too slow for anyone hoping for immediate relief.

This post was edited by bboy on Sun, Jan 19, 14 at 15:16