That is a real beauty. I might have to but one, too. Lol.

Have you seen this during the growing season? IMO, the fall color is its best feature......it is a rather unassuming, almost muddy brownish-red during the summer months.

JM can have roots as aggressive as any other maple ...

i recall planting the standard bloodgood knockoff ... and after about 5 years you could NOT put a shovel thru the fibrous root mass underneath ... luckily it was out in the middle of the lawn and i didnt really need to plant anything under it ... and this one appears to be cascading ... which means you wont need anything under it ....

not really a problem.. imo ... just fyi ...

imo.. every plant has a season ... it need not be the glory of the garden all year long ... so it wouldnt bother me.. if it was just plain ole.. plain ole.. until fall color ... thats usually when the garden needs a little umph anyway ....

ken

ps: i am surprised with the lack of whole plant pix at the link: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Acer+palmatum+Dr.+Brown&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images&iai=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.buchholznursery.com%2Fd23df%2F1%3FW%3D11d%26H%3D17c%26T%3Dfalse%26V%3D-7c947a4b

I'm going to disagree with you, Ken :-)) In no way do JM's have aggressive root systems!! And in fact, neither do any of the Asian maples including their North American cousin, Acer circinatum. Certainly nothing compared to what the larger growing native maples produce!!

Once well estabished, they do have a dense, mat-like root system right below the soil surface. But aggressive??........not at all!! It is extremely easy to underplant JM's compared to most other maples and even well established ones. Although I would caution against that as the root system of JM's is really quite delicate and resents disturbance. And one can introduce some very nasty soil pathogens if you do.

If you wish to underplant, do so at the same time you plant the maple. And something that does not require division or replacement or frequent cultivation. For a dwarf weeping dissectum, an evergreen groundcover is a good choice. Something you can plant and leave alone, except for some periodic trimming.

Dr Brown is extremely marcescent. I am considering taking it out because of that. And I agree with gg on the roots - JMs are easy to underplant although I generally don't as it interferes with their sculptural structure. (Looks, not function.)

Pretty tree Rouge!

i wanted to grow hosta under maple ;.... the answer is simple ... its not easy .... due to water competition .... and that is because ... the roots are aggressive in this regard ... i dont really understand why my personal experiences are pshawed ..... [if that a word..lol] .. whats that all about ....

[perhaps you have seen one or two of my screeds in the hosta forum about such..lol] .....

you grow many things other than hosta ... i am sure you can find other things to put under a maple ....

its a gorgeous tree ... dont allow any of these comments to change your mind ... ignore the haters ... lol ... maple haters i mean .. wait.. thats me ... dont ignore me .... lol

ken

Ken, hostas can be very compatible with Japanese maples.....and that's because JM's do not have similar water-seeking/absorbing roots like most other maple species. One can find countless examples online of adjacent plantings. Pretty much anything that enjoys similar growing conditions can co-habitate with JM's.

It's not that your experiences are being "pshawed".......just that they are not shared by others :-))

Another DR. BROWN thread

Dr Brown is extremely marcescent.

Sara Malone, I had to look up the definition. I am glad to have learned something new today.

But that sure does not sound good.

'Sara', I am interested in the age and size of your specimen? (Any chance you have a picture or two from this past season?)

I don't even hesitate to plant under upright Japanese maples. The weepers are a different matter because of all the pruning I like to do with them. Plus, they're a lot closer to the ground, which pretty much limits the plantings to groundcovers. Evergreen shrubs do well under upright Japanese maples here in the PacNW and I see no reason why they shouldn't do OK in other parts of the US where they can be grown. Planting evergreens under deciduous trees keeps the garden together in the Winter. Planting evergreen groundcovers under deciduous shrubs does the same thing.

I do appreciate the feedback re this maple.

Given 'gg's' and 'sara's' experiences I have held off planting it in the ground in the garden. In fact I think I will quickly plant it in some potting soil in a container and bring it into our unheated garage and figure out what to do with it next spring.

I don't have a picture of it in spring or summer, unfortunately. It looks pretty awful right now. It's about 4' x 4' and has been in for about four years. It is a bit 'muddy' as noted above but I like it.

It looks pretty awful right now.

'Sara', as you can see my specimen looks gorgeous this time of year. I take it yours doesnt look similarly? Is this due to the fact that you are a zone 9 and so Fall colours arent so colourful in such a climate?

Yes! I don't get reliable fall color from most Jms. There are a few that color every year, but most are hit or miss. This one just goes brown immediately and then hangs onto its dead leaves until the new ones push out in the spring. But even marcescence might be different in different climates. It will be interesting to see what yours does.

But even marcescence might be different in different climates.

I was thinking exactly the same thought myself!

UPDATE:

The specimen in question easily survived the winter potted up in our unheated garage.

I planted it in the ground in early May in a shady locale.

I like what I see so far in this maple

And a close-up:

It reminds me a lot of my 'Baldsmith', which has that same overall chocolate-y appearance!