thank you for your insightful comment. I'm doing a reno on my front yard. trees are expensive and don't want to make a mistake but I love maple they're so beautiful. my design is modern zen but I live in Laguna beach and I don't see maple trees as big as yours. Your design is beautiful and we'll thought out.

I'm in zone 22 (inland OC). In my exp. our 8+ soil alkilinity along with our alkaline & high saline water make it useless. Pm sun is an additional problem. The best maples in SoCal appear to be Macrophyllum, Truncatum, aswell as the Truncatum x Platanoides hybrids

In SO Cal, or other dry places, a similar effect can be achieved with the much more climate appropriate Palo Verde.

Nah, I'm not in the desert. In a lawn it will probably be to moist for Palo Verde.

I believe more than the sun, the saline water in soCal is the main culprit. Not to say the afternoon sun won't burn the leaves. I have a few in pots and water them w/distilled H2O, and they do fine. They get AM sun only and stay burn free until Sept. There beautiful thru the majority of the growing season, and good enough for me. I live in zone 22. Here my daytime highs ave. 87 in July & Aug. I don't see the heat having much to do with it in coastal SoCal. They grow well in the SE and the summer temps and sun intensity have little to do with their success.