Small upright Japanese Maple --- Do I have room?

11 years ago

Hi everybody!

I really want an upright Japanese Maple in my new part-shade garden (zone 6b) but I'm not sure if I have enough room. Please excuse my awful drawing skills, but this was the best I could do without graph paper. :) The drawing isn't to scale, but the measurements are correct... Could I fit a JM in the center of this garden? It would have 10 ft between the sidewalk and the garage wall. Height wouldn't be an issue, but I'd need to keep the lower branches from blocking the sidewalk. (would be ok if the upper branches extended over the sidewalk).

I'd prefer a standard/upright Japanese Maple with red coloring. I would consider the dwarf varieties if they can be trimmed to look like an upright with just a single trunk.

Thanks in advance!
KL

Featured Answer

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)

11 years ago

Yes, there's room :-) 'Twombly's Red Sentinel' would fit easily (very narrow and columnar in habit) but a more typically growing, smaller upright would work as well.............'Fireglow', 'Moonfire', 'Nuresagi', 'Okagami', 'Shaina', 'Umegae'. And probably a few more I can't think of now.

While extremely common, both 'Bloodgood' and 'Emperor I' will get much too large for this area.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you! Thank you! I was so afraid that everybody was going to say "Absolutely NOT!" and I've REALLY been wanting a JM for a while now. I've looked at some picture of Twombly's Red Sentinel and while I like it, I'm not entirely crazy about it's non-traditional shape. I saw a Fireglow in person at a local nursery the other day and fell in love with it. I'm going to check out the other varieties you mentioned too.

Really liked pictures I saw of the Okagami and Umegae. Also just noticed that the Umegae is the favorite mentioned here: http://www.davidsansjapanesemaples.com/featured-japanese-maples/favorite-japanese-maple/

I'm hoping to have the JM in the middle of the bed and then fill in the remaining areas with hostas, heucheras, hellebores, astible, ferns etc.
Related Professionals
Sebring Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Vicksburg Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Johnson City Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Stockton Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Albany Landscape Contractors · Minneapolis Landscape Contractors · Eau Claire Landscape Contractors · Paducah Architects & Building Designers · Daytona Beach Architects & Building Designers · Middlesboro Architects & Building Designers · Miami Architects & Building Designers · Oklahoma City Architects & Building Designers · Hempstead Architects & Building Designers · Juneau Architects & Building Designers · Hilo Architects & Building Designers
magpiepix 5b/6a
11 years ago
There's always room for a Japanese maple. ;) Especially since them come in so many convenient sizes....

What is your sun/shade situation in that spot? I have Fireglow and Umegae. Fireglow is stunning...such a pretty, bright red. Umegae is very different than what you see on Davidsans. His must be in full shade? In part sun, mine is very dark red. Not bright red, but dark red with the under leaves fading to green.

Shaina I'd avoid, because I've read so much about it and other witches' brooms having sudden death. You might also want to look at Scolopendrifolium rubrum. There's one in my neighborhood and it's different but very graceful and pretty.
Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a) thanked magpiepix 5b/6a
Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
Original Author
11 years ago
This garden is on the east side of our house and only gets direct sun until around 1pm I'd guess. The tree will be completely blocked by the house from those super hot afternoon/evening rays.

I'm really leaning toward getting this 5ft Fireglow that I saw at a local nursery. It was beautiful and perfectly shaped for this spot!

I need to go research best time to plant etc. I'm hoping I don't need to wait until the fall.

Ps. If any of you have any suggestions for narrow evergreens that I could put along that 18ft garage wall (down towards the right past where the JM will be) I'd love to hear them. It's hard trying to find something that won't take up a lot of room.
bub72ck
11 years ago
I have a Tsukushigata which is similar to Umegae and it's one of my favorite trees. Very subtle in passing but a stunning tree.
Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a) thanked bub72ck
magpiepix 5b/6a
11 years ago
You can't go wrong with Fireglow.

Does the garage area get a lot of sun? A quick google search says the limit for white pines is zone 7, so I'm not sure it would work, but I have a Bennett Fastigiate white pine that I absolutely love..

http://dawesarb.arboretumexplorer.org/taxon-25885.aspx
http://www.buchholznursery.com/plant_page.html?id=cd291
http://www.coniferkingdom.com/pinus-strobus-bennetts-fastigiate/

I also have a Degroot's spire Arborvitae, and it's been very pretty.
Kitchenlady (Tennessee, Zone 7a)
Original Author
11 years ago
The area only gets sun until around 1pm and then the garage/trees block the hot afternoon and setting sun.

I am a big fan of the white pine though... just wouldn't work in this spot. We just planted three Eastern White Pines last fall and I can't believe how much they've grown already.