So that's a pic from last fall? Did the green leaves on the right of the pic fall off, but not the brown leaves on the left? If so, it doesn't bode well for the left side. At this point you can only wait and see.

tj

agree with tj..was it completely green when you planted it? and then died back?..it looks as if you might end up with half a tree..probably not the look you want..I read that to make it convenient for shipping and selling the root balls are reduced so much that many plants die..makes sense doesn't it?..I lost a new JM once that had a very poor root ball..couldn't figure out what was wrong (have 13 that are fine) and when I read that thought "hmm..maybe that's my problem"..

I agree. I think one side is gone for sure and all you can do is wait to see if the other side leafs out as it should.

The rootball issue is only valid if (and this not a certainty with better vendors) dealing with mail order. If you buy from a local nursery or garden center, that should not be a problem, however root congestion - too long in too small a pot - could be. But neither too shy a root mass or root congestion would affect a tree in this manner. Decline would be uniform.

My mother mailed it to me for my last birthday. It was bare, but upon planting put out a full flush of those famous spring pink leaves. By the time this photo was taken in the fall, half the branches appeared dead. I snipped off a bit of wood from a branch however, and the inside is green.

sounds promising..keep it watered..

Maybe it was stressed in the heat of the summer and had some die back. This has happened to me before. Hopefully it will get new buds in the spring.

Update: it died. Whole branches of JM's punking out is the kiss of death. Lost another one really similarly.

Sorry to hear it :(

Zone 5a is very marginal for most JM's. You really need one of the iron horse varieties to succeed in that climate.

Hogyoku is going well, though fall color is less than amazing. Geisha is doing well. Seriyu is doing well. Everything else is gone. I guess I could get a bloodgood, but everyone has those around here. Recomnendations!?

The acer japonicum varieties are supposed to be more cold hardy, and then there are Iseli's Korean maple hybrids: 'North Wind', 'Arctic Jade', etc. Can you expand on your experience with 'Hogyoko'? I am searching for a very tough japanese maple with gold/orange fall color, and 'Hogyoko' is currently at the top of my list.

I have two hogyoko. One is in a pretty shady spot, north side of my house, alive but under 2’ tall, like a cute bonsai. In zone 5 shade, a JM can be teeny! Both are 3 years old, made it through winter just fine, seems hardy. The other has an eastern exposure and is four times the size. In year 1 and 2 they were both brilliant orange by Halloween. This last year, it was just a soft copper. It might vary by year. The larger one has an open, spreading habit.

see what I mean by a copper leaf color? It's pretty, but not exactly orange sometimes. Also I took this image today...the leaves just don't fall off! Also YES this tree is three years old! They seem to naturally bonsai themselves if you give them plenty of cold and shade. This guy gets maybe 3 hrs of morning sun in the summer. You can see the shadow coming over since it's still only March, about 8:30am. The vinca minor groundcover is perhaps helping it stay small.

Here is the other hogyoko, quite a bit bigger with Eastern sun, but still definitely not a large tree. (I picked off the dead leaves on this one.) So yeah, in zone 5 sun really, really matters with this cultivar.

Thank you Leslie. The spot I am aiming to fill gets nearly all day sun in the summer, as well as plenty of wind and weather. This tree will be sort of a companion to the large Fireglow I planted last year, which seems to be doing great so far, despite a true zone 5 winter. Crappy fall color seemed to be almost a nationwide phenomenon in 2017. I have read that all of the crimson/pink spring varieties such as Shin deshojo struggle in colder temps. I am giving Phoenix a try this year, but putting it in a sheltered spot on the east side of my house. From what I have read, Chishio Improved appears to be one of the hardiest of these "Corallinum type" maples.

Yeah, I had 2 shindesojo die, an ukigomo and a osakazuki (though in fairness the osakazuki died because a giant tree limb covered in ice fell on it. I thought it might be ok, but no.) Coral pink also died on me. Geisha Gone Wild (god I hate that name) is doing quite well though. She is pink, but only for a couple weeks in springtime. Good variegated color at other times. She's got a due north exposure and remains really small, very cute part of a little creeping evergreen garden. Here she is.

I heard very good things about the Jack Frost series of hybrid maples in our cold climate. I am in Zone 5 a/b as well and plan to try them, North Wind will be the first one for me (my plan is also to plant next to my Fireglow, which has been doing well and growing fast in an open, exposed full sun location for the last 3 years). There is some really nice info posted on the facebook Japanese Maple and conifers group. Below is a link from a poster who is north of me. Hopefully I am not violating any privacy law for citing her post w/o permission:).

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10212032257176458&set=pcb.1477964502319097&type=3&theater

One of the gold leaved maples I was considering was an Iseli hybrid called Avalanche, which looks great in the one picture I have found online. I'm not sure why but it is super rare. I could ask a local nursery if they could order one, but that's quite an expensive risk to take on a maple no one knows about.

I have a great seed grown acer (likely shirasawanum hybrid) that has been super hardy for me. I will be making multiple layers this year and would be willing to send to the those in 5a/5b that have already commented in this thread

It has survived -20F with no die back.

Spring photo

Fall

layer from last summer

let me know

Keith

I won't say no to that!

I don't see how to contact through Houzz.

Please feel free to email me

keithguess at gmail . com

Keith, you do not have your messaging feature enabled. If you go back into your profile, under 'Advanced Settings' should be a tab you can activate that will automatically allow members to message you.

Thanks, that was hard to find.

Vivian, that's my North Wind. :) I don't mind that you posted it. It's a phenomenal cultivar.

I've had very good luck growing most JMs here in 5b. The exception would be the coral barks, or really any of the bright bark JMs. I had high hopes for Shidava Gold, but after a few years it, too, has lost the battle. It could be something else, but I suspect it's weakened by temperature lows here.

All of Iseli hybrids, of course, thrive in zone 5. There's also a hybrid sold through Klehm's, called Northern Glow, that seems like a worthy cultivar. It has a slightly brighter green leaf than the Iseli hybrids. I've also had very good luck with the A. japonicum and A. shirasawanum cultivars, but many A. palmatum are doing well here, too, even without protection. Diana at Topiary Gardens Nursery is a wonderful resource-- her entire nursery is in rural 5a! If she can grow JMs at the rate and quality she does, I know we can. She grows many of hers out in the field, too, so she can give accurate reports of how much help (if any) each cultivar needs. If you want cold-tested JMs, give her a call. Her prices and shipping are extremely reasonable, too.

Leslie, regarding Shin deshojo.... It does grow in 5b, and I believe Diana gets it to grow in 5a, but she said it will experience some tip dieback every year. Her advice to me, for any tree (palmatums, especially) that are borderline in zone 5a/b, is to protect it during at least its first two winters. I do so by wrapping them loosely with burlap, to protect them from cold winds.

My Shin deshojo is about five years old, bought as a new graft. It's growing a little every year, and looking more vigorous with each passing year. I'm in a cool 5b, possibly given a bit of a buffer because my lot is semi-urban. Still, if Diana can do it in 5a NY, I bet you could, too. :)

Hi magpiepix, thanks for letting me use your post and pictures! I am now obsessed with North Wind after seeing your pictures. I have one coming from Oriental Garden Supply in May. I have half of my trees come from Diana and half from Lucile. I have 10 ( mostly palmatums, one A. shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon') planted in the ground for the last 3 years, knock on wood, I have not lost any considering our cold climate. My Shin deshojo has been in a container (received as a 1 g plant from Lucile), and grows too fast for me already.

So exciting! I'm putting in my order with Lucile this week. Diana has a few that I want, but they're too young to ship out yet. :) I'll have to wait for 2019 or 2020, which seems like forever, but I'm sure it will be here faster than I imagine.

Enjoy your new ones!