Japanese Maple Trees – The Tree Center

Burgundy Lime Japanese Maple

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Orion Dwarf Red Japanese Maple

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Manyo No Sato Japanese Maple

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Summer Gold Japanese Maple

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Mikazuki Japanese Maple

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Lemon Lime Lace Japanese Maple

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Taylor Japanese Maple

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Sagara Nishiki Japanese Maple

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Weeping Full Moon Maple

kylettc — Mon, 27 Dec 2021 19:07:29 +0000

Japanese maples come in many forms, from strongly upright to almost creeping varieties. The Full Moon Maple is a different species, and it contains just a few, highly desirable varieties. This type of maple grows best in colder areas and is usually more cold-resistant than many of the true Japanese maple forms. As well, the broad-spreading leaflets give it a unique ‘full’ look, even when the leaflets are deeply divided like lace. That is what you see when you gaze on the beautiful leaves of the ‘Green Cascade’ Full Moon Maple, but for this gorgeous and rare tree, that is only the beginning. As you might guess, it forms a wonderful broad, rounded shrub with branches that grow out horizontally or descending, to give you a perfect form where you want a tree that isn’t going to grow tall. Topping out in maturity at around 6 feet only, it’s especially lovely in fall, when its leaves turn marvelous shades of gold, orange and red. Truly a spectacular, top-quality and outstanding maple coveted by collectors around the world.

Growing the Weeping Full Moon Maple

Size and Appearance

The Weeping Full Moon Maple is a moderate-growing small deciduous tree, usually with several stems. In good growing conditions, it should be at least 4 feet tall and wide within 10 years, growing larger every year. It matures over time into a broad, mounding bush, reaching 6 or possibly 8 feet tall and spreading between 6 and even 10 feet across. The branches spread wide, forming broad umbrellas, very different from the normal upright form of the Full Moon Maple. The smooth, reddish-brown bark of young branches becomes rough and more textured as it ages, and the network of branches is a beautiful sight in winter.

The leaves emerge in early spring, a bright, glowing chartreuse green, maturing to a bright green over summer. The large leaves are rounded and 3 to almost 6 inches across. They may be large, but this isn’t obvious, because they are divided into many very slender lobes. Usually between 7 and 11 narrow lobes radiate out from the central leaf stem, and each one divides and divides again, forming amazing delicate lace-like patterns. Every leaf is a work of art. In fall the leaves turn extraordinary shades of yellow, orange and red, often all at the same time, and often climaxing in a ball of fiery red. Full Moon Maples have a reputation for spectacular fall color, and the Weeping Full Moon Maple won’t let you down. Older trees may surprise you with a crop of small, inch-long maple ‘keys’, visible after the leaves fall.

Using the Weeping Full Moon Maple in Your Garden

Wherever you need a low, broad mound of beautiful foliage, the Weeping Full Moon Maple is going to be it. Plant it by a pond, or in the front areas of a bed. Grow it to spread out over boulders, or spill over a low wall. Plant it with other maples – it looks stunning against the classic red-leaf types. Use it as a specimen in an Asian-themed planting, and you can even grow it in a planter – perhaps a beautiful Asian ceramic pot. Make sure any planter you choose has drainage holes.

Hardiness

More cold-resistant than many ‘palmatum’-type Japanese maples, the Weeping Full Moon Maple is reliable throughout zone 5, and should grow in sheltered spots in warmer parts of zone 4 with minimal damage. It enjoys areas with cooler, moist summers, so zone 7 is typically its upper reach, although in the northwest it will grow through the warmer zones of Washington and Oregon. Zone 6 is probably the limit for keeping a plant in a pot outdoors all winter.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

In cooler zones, with good soil moisture, this tree will grow perfectly in full sun, and develop excellent fall color. In most areas, though, it is best to compromise, with morning sun but light shade in the afternoon. Too much shade will reduce the vigor, and produce fewer red shades in fall. The perfect soil is rich, always moist, but well-drained, although well-established plants can tolerate some dryness in summer. Add plenty of organic material when planting, and use it every year or two as mulch, covering the whole root zone. Water young plants regularly, and give established ones a deep soak during summer dry spells.

Maintenance and Pruning

Generally free of any significant pest or disease problems, the Weeping Full Moon Maple is actually easy to grow if you have a good location and appropriate watering. Apart from removing any dead twigs in spring, as the leaves are emerging, it needs no pruning – let it develop its natural form.

History and Origin of the Weeping Full Moon Maple

The beauty of Japanese maples never ends, and their world spreads wide, including not just the many, many varieties of the normal ‘Japanese maple’, Acer palmatum, but other species as well. The most prized and coveted in Japan is the Full Moon Maple, confusingly called Acer japonicum by botanists. The romantic name ‘Full Moon’ evokes the way the leaflets fan out into an almost perfect circle, and it’s a name that in Japan is also given to another maple, Acer shirasawanum. A popular variety of Full Moon Maple is ‘Aconitifolium’, which has deeply-dissected leaves that resemble lace, similar to the Dissectum group of Acer palmatum. In the late 1960s the nurseryman Arthur ‘Art’ Wright found a seedling, presumably of ‘Aconitifolium’, that had similar leaves, but whose branches spread outwards and cascaded downwards. Art worked closely with the famous J. D. Vertrees, whose nursery in southern Oregon was a pilgrimage site for maple enthusiasts (his book on Japanese maples is the bible for all maple lovers). Art Wright had a reputation for only releasing the very best of any new plants he found. So he didn’t release many, but those he did were always the highest quality. He named his beautiful new maple tree ‘Green Cascade’, releasing it in 1973. It is sometimes offered with that name, and also as the Weeping Full Moon Maple – there isn’t another one.

Buying the Weeping Full Moon Maple at the Tree Center

This wonderful tree was given the highly-coveted Award of Garden Merit in 2012 by Britain’s prestigious Royal Horticultural Society. A plant needs no further recommendation than that. Sought after by collectors, the Weeping Full Moon Maple always remains elusive and in short supply. We found some beautiful young trees for you, but don’t hesitate – they will soon all be gone.

Hime Shojo Japanese Maple

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For lovers of Japanese maples, it’s always exciting when a new variety arrives from Japan. Although known there for more than 25 years, the Hime Shojo Japanese Maple is relatively new in the US, but it’s already catching the attention of aficionados of these lovely trees. A rounded, compact, bushy tree that’s perfect where you want a dwarf plant, it has exceptional spring and summer red coloring on the leaves. Red varieties are always the most popular – they are such wonderful garden eye-candy – and this is one that really pops with cherry-red on new growth, while the mature leaves are the classic deep burgundy we all love. Not only perfect wherever you want a smaller tree, it is wonderful for growing in pots too – perfect decoration for a courtyard garden or terrace. As well, the leaves are small too, in perfect harmony with the size of the tree, and they make it a wonderful subject for bonsai – whether you are an experienced artist in that medium, or a newbie. Lovers of everything Japanese in the garden are going head-over-heels for this beauty, and so will you.

Growing the Hime Shojo Japanese Maple

Size and Appearance

The Hime Shojo Japanese Maple is a deciduous dwarf tree, growing no more than 6 inches a year and reaching perhaps 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide in about 10 years. It will continue to add a few inches each year after that, but stay compact and shrubby, and always broader than it is tall, like a rounded bun. The young stems are deep red, and older bark is light brown, with small lines on it, perhaps like miniature calligraphy.

The leaves are small, usually no more than 1½ long, and divided into 5, or sometimes 7, narrow lobes, cut almost to the leaf stalk. They are like fingers on a tiny hand, each lobe tapering to a graceful point, and with fine serrations along their edges. New leaves are bright cherry-red, most noticeably in spring of course, but also continuing with the new leaves produced during summer. As they mature they turn to the classic deep burgundy we think of as ‘red-leaf maple. That color holds well all through summer in all but the hottest zones, where some green may develop. It brightens again in fall, adding to that glorious season. Older trees may produce some miniature red maple keys, but they are not profuse in this variety.

Using the Hime Shojo Japanese Maple in Your Garden

This variety is perfect if you want a beautiful Japanese maple but don’t have much room. It would be lovely in a smaller shrub bed, on terracing, or at the edge of a path. Plant it in a rock garden, or beside a Japanese stone lantern. In zone 6 or warmer it could be grown in a pot left outdoors all winter – in colder areas bury the pot for the coldest months. And of course, the small leaves and compact growth make it perfect for a bonsai tree – remove some of the central stems to give it a more mature look, and perhaps wire some branches to accentuate the horizontal form. It would look superb in a glazed dish on a table.

Hardiness

The Hime Shojo Japanese Maple is hardy in zone 5, and reliable into all but the hottest zones. It is easier to grow in regions with cooler and damper summers, but with a little extra care it can be grown all through zone 8.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

If you plant your Hime Shojo Japanese Maple in full sun it will have the strongest leaf colors, and stay redder through summer, but that has to be balanced against your climate. If you have hot and dry summers then the risk of leaf-burn is higher in full sun, so some afternoon shade is probably better. Leaves turning green is as much related to high temperatures as to shade, so light shade is often preferable. This plant is not drought-resistant and grows best in rich, moist but well-drained soils. Avoid hot, dry areas and very wet areas. It grows in all soil types except for heavy clays and very alkaline soils, and enriching the soil with organic material, and using it every year or two for mulch over the root-zone, is going to give the best results.

Maintenance and Pruning

Regularly watering, especially during dry weather, is always appreciated by Japanese maples. Compost or rotted leaves spread over the root-zone (avoid the trunk and any low branches) is a great way to conserve moisture and feed your tree at the same time. Trees in containers should be fed regularly in spring and early summer with liquid tree fertilizer, or an all-purpose balanced plant food. This tree normally won’t suffer from pests or diseases and is not difficult to grow.

History and Origin of the Hime Shojo Japanese Maple

The Japanese maple, Acer palmatum, certainly has more varieties that any other tree we grow. The earliest ones were developed in Japan, where an appreciation of the beauty of this tree is centuries old. New varieties continue to be discovered, and it seems that the variety called ‘Hime-shojo’ was found as a novel dwarf branch on a tree of an older, larger red-leaf maple called ‘Shojo-namura’. That variety dates back to 1967, while ‘Hime-shojo’ was released in Japan in 1994. It has only recently made its way to America. Shojo in Japanese is used to indicate red-leaves on maples, and while hime can mean ‘small’, referring to the leaf size, hime-shojo means a ‘virgin princess’, both a clever word-play and a reference to the ‘perfect’ nature of this small tree.

Buying the Hime Shojo Japanese Maple at the Tree Center

Since its introduction into the US a few years back, the Hime Shojo Japanese Maple has been catching a lot of attention. It has become one of the most desirable dwarf varieties available, and it’s widely featured. So order your tree now, because these plants will soon all be gone, and we wouldn’t want you to miss out.