I don't know much about that, but be careful that the maple you get is not prone to chlorosis. Many maples need soil that is a little on the acidic side. Since most of the soil around here is alkaline, those maples can have yellow leaves (that sometimes turn brown and die) and stunted growth. In some cases, they eventually die unless they are given enough chelated iron or the soil pH is lowered enough.

Iron Chlorosis is a what kills most of the Maples in Utah.
There is a woman that lives in SLC that has a gorgeous little yard and has several varieties of healthy Japanese maples in her yard.
They are perfect for her tiny yard and do not overpower it. She has a koi pond on the side of her yard and a nice patio next to it to enjoy the serenity of her "Garden of Edith"(instead of Eden).
I would like to add some Japanese maples, but I need to focus on friut trees first and foremost.

The water has high Ph too, so even if you get the soil lower in Ph, just watering it is going to make it rise again.

I think the best thing to do is to keep your eye our for a maple you REALLY like that looks healthy and ask the owners what their secret is. If they do not have one, the tree is really lucky or just not sick yet.
Good luck!

Hey, SongbirdMommy, you're back! Nice to see you posting again. We've missed you here - I recall seeing a few posts wondering where you'd been.

Weren't you doing the Master Gardener course? Or am I confused with someone else? If it was you, how has it gone? I'd like to do it if I ever can find the time (or if my wife can let me find the time!). But this is definitely not a good year for being more busy, since we just had a baby last spring, and she's pretty worn out during the week.

Anyway, this forum has gotten really slow since we all got busy in our own gardens this summer. It was much more busy last winter and early spring. I've been using the Rocky Mountain Gardening forum more often, since there are a lot more people over there. But it would be nice to develop our Utah community some more.

Yes, you have to be careful what you plant. But saying that something prefers a neutral or acid pH does not necessarily mean that it won't survive in our great basin soils. Temperature is often more of a limiting factor in Utah than pH. I have the paper bark and it is thriving. This fall it looks better than it has in the 5 years I have had it. I have a number of the Japonicums including Full Moon and they do well. I have 5 seedling of pseudosieboldianum. The ones that get more afternoon sun have survived but that is about all. The ones in full shade have done better but have not grown much in 2 years. I think that they are still getting established. The leaves look good. the jury is still out on them.
I have A. shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon' for 3 years now. The leaf edges scorch in the heat of the summer. It is doing better each year. It's spring leaves are the prettiest in the yard. It is in almost full shade. I have A. mandshuricum for 2 years now and seems to being doing better each year. I planted it too early one spring and it had a tough time of it. It came mail order and was very dried out and wilted. IT is about 6 feet tall. I have A. japonicum 'Vitifolium' and it is doing great. I don't know if I have any seed on any of these this year. Most are grafted plants anyway.

I agree with kvolk that one should not give up on maples just because some are going to have problems. I personally think they're among the nicest trees I grow. I have had some problems with Acer fremanii, which I have described elsewhere, but I still like them. I am looking to grow some plain, sturdy maples to fill in some spots around the perimeter of my yard, but I'm cheap, so I'm willing to try from seed or to take a seedling if someone has a volunteer in their yard.

I have some Japanese maples that are doing fairly well -- one of them is doing wonderfully and one gets some leaf burn. For them, I've found that a heavy application of compost as mulch really does wonders.

So, anyway, I do think Songbirdmommy went a little overboard with the comment that any healthy maple is just lucky or not sick yet! There are plenty of healthy maples in Utah. We just have to either avoid the problem ones (which are often chlorosis problems or perhaps temperature problems as described above) or figure out how to adapt a raised bed or something like that to make it work.

I was surprised by the reactions that I got to my post. If there is one thing that I have learned from my experience in horticulture is that there are always exceptions and very few absolultes. I am glat to hear of your experiences kvolk. I currently have some Japanese Maples all of which are doing well. I give them chelated iron with a foliar application and it looks great. By the way what city do you live in?

For a foliar application, use the cheapest form of water soluble iron you can find. It doesn't need to be chelated. You may be able to find iron sulfate in a water soluble form.

Be careful when you apply foliar iron. If it's too hot out, foiar iron application can cause leaf burning.

I live in Tremonton--on the cold side of zone 5. I have visited the yard of a gentleman in SLC on the east bench who has over 100 varieties of Japanese maple in his average size yard. It is interesting to see but in his yard he has to keep them pruned back so hard that they can't show their full beauty.