There are several mail order places as well. If you are looking for a dwarf, shipping isn't so bad, and the selection is incredible.

Thank you Vivian, I'll certainly check with Gee Farm.

mblan13, my concern with mail order is, it'd be hard to know how they would perform in the cold weather here, as I noticed that many nurseries are located in warmer areas comparing to MI.

It's not like they are seed grown plants so provenance (where they originate from) should have very little bearing on their hardiness. And in an area where these are often considered of marginal hardiness, mail order would increase the selection considerably.

Hi Gardengal48,

Not necessarily the plans are different but the local nurseries would have more hands-on experience regarding how different varieties react on the cold weather here. If I read online, I find for the same variety, different website will mark differenet hardiness, not to mention that I plan to put it in a container.

If planting in a container, then hardiness is not really a concern :-) ANY Japanese maple in your zone grown in a container will require winter protection. Somewhere where the plant in its container can be stored over winter where the temperature will not go much below freezing yet remain below 40-45F..........an attached but unheated garage or basement for example.

Except 3 locally bought Japanese maples, most of my maples are bought online. Majority came from Lucile Whitman at Whitman Farms from Oregon, some came from Topiary garden in up state NY. Either in ground or container, they all are fine. If the tree comes from west coast, I would keep them in containe for the first year as some of them easily get sun burns due to the different growing conditions. After first year I have not see difference in their performance regardless of their origin.

Having said that, Gee Farm typically carries such a wide variety of maples, particularly this time of the year. So you should be able to find what you need and get their advice if you can drive there. You can check their website or call. For me it is not an option since I live 4-5 hours away so I choose to order online.

Gardengal offers excellent advice on winterizing container grown maples. They won’t survive our winter without appropriate protection (winterize in unheated attatchec garage, or bury the pot in ground, etc)

thank you all for the advice. If I can't find the some dwarf ones locally then will try online nurseries then

If I have to bring it into garage in the winter, I would want it to be small enough for me to move the pot.