Large maples are notoriously difficult to underplant and silver maples probably lead the pack :-). Their root systems are simply too dense and too aggressive to allow establishment of just about anything other than surface rooted, drought tolerant groundcovers. A JM will most definitely struggle in that situation, provided you can even manage to get it established. Considering the investment one makes with a Japanese maple, I would want to give it the best possible chance to thrive and find another, better suited spot.

I knew I could count on you to set me straight gardengal, haha :). Well it's off to find a better spot then I suppose. Also, would you say that Ukigumo shows the most white-ish color (under the right circumstances) of any JM?

Yes, it is the whitest JM I have encountered. We had one in large box under a big shade house at one nursery I worked at - so NO direct sunlight ever - and it was almost entirely white. Just a few specks of green and some pinkish new growth. Pretty amazing looking tree but quite slow growing. Difficult to photosynthesize efficiently without much chlorophyll so growth is usually much slower than a less heavily or non-variegated tree.

I would love to have seen that. Just how slow growing was it? I can definitely see why total shade would have that effect.

Also, if you don't mind me being nosy, did you major in horticulture or something related?

Different JM's grow at different rates so it's tricky to compare :-) But this was a good sized specimen that was obviously at least 10-15 years old and had a good sized price tag to match.

My second degree was in horticulture. I made a rather extreme midlife career change :-)

Well either way I think it's awesome and really appreciate your knowledge and advice. How did you get into Japanese maples specifically?

JM's are only one of my passions :-) I am rather eclectic when it comes to plants and there are several other genera I feel strongly about as well. And it just kind of follows that when you are passionate about something, you learn as much as you can about it. I've been doing this for a good many years also :-) As a professional horticulturist and landscape designer, the more I know about plants, the better I can do my job, so the learning and reading never stops.

I understand. Thank you for answering my barrage of questions.