Japanese Maple Characteristics: Leaves, Bark, and Form

The maples you see at the nursery will change as the season progresses. These pointers will acquaint you with the characteristics of different trees.

Leaves

Often start out infused with red or purple, fade to green in summer, then color up again in fall. However, some leaves hold their spring color (green, purple, or red) until autumn, when they flush burgundy, scarlet, orange, or yellow before dropping.

• Laceleaf types, with deeply divided leaves, suffer more than most maples in hot, dry, and/or windy locations.
• Red-leafed varieties and fullmoon maples handle more cold than other Japanese maples.

Bark

Can change color with seasons. Coral-bark varieties develop the most color in winter on the sunny side. Green-bark varieties have good color year-round, showing deepest green on new twigs in summer.

Forms

Can be upright, spreading, or weeping; weeping forms often take a distinctive mushroom shape.

• For a tree, buy an upright variety with a single trunk. For a shrubby look, choose spreading varieties with multiple trunks.
• Weeping varieties usually grow slowly, topping out in the 6- to 10-foot range.
• Laceleaf types are almost all grafted (rootstock is a plain maple species; the top is a named variety). The trunk is straight below the graft, then meanders and spreads above it, giving a mushroom shape.