Upright, cascading, how wide?

I would suggest going to the worldplants.com web site and search through their listings of Japanese maples. They have them sorted by dwarf, laceleaf, linearilobum, upright, variegated varieties, etc. Site has excellent photos of most varieties and good descriptions of size, form, etc.

If you are looking for a red laceleaf variety, which seem to be most popular, Red Dragon is a good choice that wouldn't get too large. Some of the linearilobum or strapleaf varieties also would do, such as Villa taranto, Beni ubi gohan, or Koto no ito. World Plants has lots of other dwarfs listed. Some of the dwarf varieties I like a lot include Shin de shogo and Kamagata.

Keep in mind that most dwarfs will not grow as fast as non-dwarf varieties. Sometimes you can find good values in nurseries, however. A nursery near me has a 5-6' tall Koto no ito for about $150, which is an excellent price for a dwarf variety that large. It looks like a miniature weeping willow. If I had a place to plant it, I would have bought it on the spot.

Check out Filigree, it is one of the nicest dissectums if you can use a green leaf variety and have some shade during the day, Mikawa Yatsubusa is a very nice dwarf that most people like, Shishigashira is a great slow growing upright with a very different look from most other acer palmatums. You may also want to consider acer sieboldianum Sode no Uchi. It is slow growing with small roundish greenish yellow leaves and good fall color. David

Thanks for the feedback!