Shaina is usually bought because of it's red foliage/dwarf habit.Without sun I would assume it would stay rather green.A good'un is a very slow grower with extremely congested and dense branching/foliage,so in the shade It'll probably grow painfully slowly(though perhaps that's what you want?)Mine is about 5years old in-ground,in full sun and still just over a foot tall,but I have recently seen quite a lot of vigorous,leggy plants labelled as Shaina.Some cultivars are best grown in shade so I don't think it will do any harm as long as it gets some reflected light.

I bought the shaina to be grown in a pot. It was already 3' tall and wide with a 2.5" dia. trunk.
At the time the roots looked weak and the soil was mostly clay so I decided to plant it in the ground to strengthen the roots. The problem at the time was lack of sun, very bright but no sun so I decided to gamble and planted it in the sunless spot hoping that the roots would get stronger in a couple of years. If maple people think it wont work
I can plant it in a grow pot or box in the spring.
Thanks for you reply.
Paul

Hmm that's interesting...I have been reading this year of a few people who when inspecting the rootball of this particular cultivar,have found it to be unusually small wrt the size of the plant.On my plant I wouldn't expect a large rootball as it's still so small but theirs were larger like yours.As yet no-one seems to know the exact reason for this but it appears many of the 'witches brooms' seem to overtake their rootstocks.Perhaps their inherent deformities don't provide enough energy or have trouble triggering rootgrowth.I suspect some of them may have been 'pushed' with nitrogen compounding the problem but it does seem to be trait of Shaina and alike.

That's the kind of info I need. It may be what I noticed was the natural growth of this plant.
So maybe I should have planted it in a pot instead of in the ground. Now I will do it in the spring.
Should have asked when I bought the tree.
Thank you very much

For what it's worth Shaina is a problem child in zone 6. I always assumed it's one of those cultivars that would be happier in a warmer zone.
john

John
They changed my zone a few years ago from 6a bordering on 5b to zone 7 because it is on the coast but it is frequently visited by zone 6 and 5.
I have seen our harbor freeze at least 2 x with temps down to -18 degrees F, so just about any Japanese maple will need protection in the winter in this area.