 |
Fire Dragon®
maple is
our patented Shantung cultivar that has a more elegant leaf shape and exceptional
and rare brilliant red fall color. Like other Shantung maples it
takes full sun and grows in all soils except it does not tolerate
standing water. Spring bloom is small yellow clusters and the
leaves are edged in burnt orange. Summer growth is red over the
dark shiny green leaves. A
very adaptable maple you will find easy to grow that will make a
beautiful medium-sized 25 foot tall specimen shade tree. The seedling-grown
Shantungs are also excellent shade trees that have a purple-red new
growth color and outstanding golden yellow fall color. See
'Shantung Maples' for complete details. |
 |
 |
The following Japanese maples do best
long-term in dappled shade or with 1-2 hours of passing direct sun.
Fireglow Japanese maple likes
dappled shade to a couple of hours of direct sun. It is known for
holding its red color from spring until fall. It produces various
shades of red during the year from cherry red to dark purple-red to
light orangish-red, then to brilliant crimson fall colors. It is a
smaller upright cultivar that only reaches 10-12 feet tall and wide.
Outstanding.
|
 |
 |
SHIN DESHOJO is the most brilliant
red Japanese Maple in early spring. The small leaves emerge as bright as
any blooms. This maple is a semi-dwarf reaching a mature height of 10 to
12 feet. It
makes an excellent bonsai or patio plant. In late spring the leaves turn
from a bronze red to a bluish-green but many times a second flush of growth appears which will
be bright red creating a two-tone effect. Fall colors are yellow and
red to all red. This
maple buds well with pruning enabling shaping and forcing of new growth
all growing seasons. One of the best maples and easy to grow. Very similar
varieties are Deshojo, Bonfire, and Beni Komachi. |
 |
 |
CRIMSON QUEEN is a red lace leaf Japanese Maple
with finely cut leaves and cascading branches giving
it a delicate and graceful character. It grows slowly to six feet and ten
feet wide in a mushroom shape. Old Crimson Queens, like all lace-leafs, develop a beautiful,
twisting, and weeping branching pattern which is awe inspiring . Brilliant red fall
color that never misses. Lace leafs are absolutely the finest and most
sought-after Japanese Maples. Shown at right is one of our 10
gallon sizes after six more years of growth. |
 |
 |
SHAINA is a red leaf dwarf that
grows fast when young, then grows slow and widens to only five feet.
It is a sport of the well known Atropurpureum. It starts spring with very
red leaves that after a month turn maroon while new leaves are growing of
bright red giving it a two-toned effect of red and maroon. Good red fall
color and interesting dense habit with superior tuffness makes
this a great red leaf dwarf. Aratama is very similiar and has a
slightly larger leaf, more pinkish-red spring color, and great yellow and red
mixed fall colors. |
 |
 |
BENI KAWA is a coral bark
Japanese maple with red bark that retains better color on older wood. It is a
four-season plant which means it is attractive and interesting in all four
seasons. Beni Kawa is vigorous and often grows again in the fall. Fall
colors are pumpkin orange or gold with red veins that are long-lasting. To
get the most colorful bark it needs lots of winter sun and cold. It is a
multi-stem tree to ten feet and should be pruned on the top of the most
vigorous shoots to encourage more branches giving you more color. SANGO
KAKU, the original coral bark maple, is just as good, grows to 15
feet, and
has fall colors of yellow with apricot reds mixed
in and turns early with the first cool nights in fall, making it very long
lasting. |
 |
 |
VIRIDIS or WATERFALL is a green laceleaf,
or dissectum, Japanese maple which has a very finely cut, or dissected,
leaf. The leaves alone are a beautiful sight. Viridis is first a bright
lime-green and
holds a bright medium green color in our heat very well. It will
add a green shine to your shady garden. It grows slowly and in a mounding,
cascading manner to about 8 feet or more. With age the branches take on a
twisting habit creating beauty even after the leaves fall. Fall colors are
the brightest yellow gold and peach orange-red you can imagine. |
 |
 |
OSAKAZUKI has larger leaves with
reddish tints over gray-green in early spring, then is a rich, very bright green all
summer. When some sun pokes through the shade trees and hits an Osakasuki
leaf it shines. One of the favorite maples in Japan and Metro Maples, it
also has bright green bark in the growing seasons, and olive-green bark in
the winter.
Osakazuki is a vigorous grower with a sturdy and compact habit to
fifteen feet. It also display many bright red seeds all summer into
fall. If
you don't want another red leaf for your yard but want more fall color,
this is it.
|
 |
 |
Red Emperor, or Emperor I, is a new Bloodgood-type Japanese maple with superior growth
habits and colors. The size is smaller at 15 feet and the shape is
more compact and not as open or spreading like Bloodgood. It retains
a translucent red color in the heat much better and has slendor leaf
lobes, greater
hardiness, and faster growth. This one should be in every yard. |
 |
 |
Orangeola is a great laceleaf
with a brick red color in spring that changes with each day to a very
nice bluish-green edged with red, to a solid green in summer. This
one likes to grow when young and it usually pushes a second flush of orange
to red new growth all summer, making it two-toned. Its habit is
weeping and very dense to only 6 feet tall (or shorter if not staked)
and much wider with age. Fall colors are a long lasting brilliant
ruby red. |
 |
 |
Orange Dream is an intensely
yellow and orange edged leaf in spring that holds a bright yellow color
into July when it becomes a softer yellow-green. Fall colors are a
brilliant mix of red and orange on a small growing umbella-shaped tree
to 10 feet tall and wide. This one does not like the hot sun but
is a good grower in shade or morning sun until 11:00 am. |
 |
 |
Seiryu is a green lace-leaf
with a vigorous, upright, multi-trunk, spreading habit to 14 feet that
also can handle the hot sun as well as any. Spring colors are a
yellow-green. What other plant in the world has such a delicate
and beautiful small leaf but grows into a small tree with excellent fall
colors? The green
bark is also an attractive feature. |
 |
 |
Inaba Shidare is another great
cascading lace leaf. This maple starts red then a very good purple-red
with a very glossy leaf
in May as shown. It is a little tougher and hardier than the other red dissectums and has been
growing better in comparison to them during our recent years of hotter
weather. It is slow growing, about 8 inches a year, to around 6 feet
tall and wider with age. Tamukeyama
is similiar but not as purple, a little more vigorours to 8 feet, and a
lot more sun tolerant. |
 |
 |
MURASAKI KIYOHIME has a small leaf, grows very
dense, low
and wide, with excellent spring colors. It leafs-out
earlier than most but is seldom bothered much by late frosts. The leaves in this photo are very small, only 1 inch
across. It is also very attractive in winter when the hundreds of small purplish
twigs and spreading habit are beautiful. Fall colors are late and can freeze before it turns a
beautiful yellow, sometimes with red mixed in. It grows about 6
inches a year to only 4 feet tall, but gets wider each year.
|
 |
|
That's the fourteen most common maples we sell.
But here is 8 more exceptionally beautiful maples to also
consider. |
|
 |
Acer palmatum, the original
green Japanese maple is grown from seed and is the easiest of them all
to grow and takes the hot sun better than any. It is the Japanese
maple found in the wild and has been around for about the last 80
million years. I use it for all my grafting understock because of
its hardiness and vigor. It also makes a great specimen tree with
orange-edged leaves in spring and brilliant fall colors of red, orange,
yellow, or mixed. Its beautiful spreading habit and small leaves
are graceful the year round. This tree grows to 14 feet tall and
wide but may get taller or wider due to seedling variations or site
conditions. |
 |
 |
Butterfly is an interesting
Japanese maple with pink and green small leaves in spring, followed by
white and green leaves in summer. It is columnar growing to about
8 feet and very dense and twiggy. Easy to grow and it will
brighten a shady spot with lots of white in summer. It also
does not burn easily from some hot sun. Fall colors are either a
mix of reds and purples or a mix of yellows and gold and the green bark
is also very attractive. |
 |
 |
Koto no Ito has very narrow
leaf lobes, some only 1/8 inch wide or less, and a bushy, compact habit that
grows to only 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The early flush is an
eye-catching yellow green which turns to a medium green and ends up with spectacular
colors of orange, to a mix of yellow and reds. This one has always
been carefree for me to grow and very reliable in the fall. |
 |
 |
Tromperburg is another great
red upright that is more vigorous than most and has a uniquely beautiful
leaf shape. In spring the bright purple-red leaf lobes rolls down,
almost forming a tube and becomes a shiny dark purple. It takes
the heat and sun very well and many times is orange in early fall,
turning to a brilliant red which lasts longer than most. It will
grow to 14 feet, or a little more, with an equal spreading habit. Suminagashi
has a similiar leaf but without the rolling, and is also vigorous, but
it grows a little taller to 18 feet but only 9 feet wide. |
 |
 |
Acer gresium, Paperbark maple,
comes from China and is found as an understory tree in alkaline soils
but grows very well in half-day sun or more, or in total dappled
shade. It is much more drought tolerant than any of the Japanese
maples. The amazingly thin
peeling bark is year-round feature and is best seen when backlit from the
sun, which makes it glow like shiny copper. It grows slowly, about 1 foot
per year, and can reach a height of about 30 feet after many years, and
is usually not very wide. Many experts call the Paperbark maple one of the best trees
in all the world. Fall colors are brilliant reds to mixed colors
of yellow and orange. |
 |
 |
Shishigashira grows only
about 6 inches per year but can get to be 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide
after fifty years. It is an electric green in early spring
with very small leaves that roll and crinkle. The shape looks
sculptured and most people do not even realize it is a Japanese maple at
first sight. Fall colors are brilliant oranges to reds, sometimes
with small amounts of yellow. |
 |
 |
Mikawa yatsubusa is a slow
growing green dwarf Japanese maple with very short internodes (the space
between the leaf buds) and an interesting twisting and bushy branching
structure. Perhaps the best dwarf for fall color as it is reliable
and either a brilliant red or mixed with bright yellow. This one
is easy to grow and takes the hot sun better than most Japanese
maples. Growth is only about 3 inches a year unless grown in ideal
conditions. Mature height is around 6 feet. |
 |
 |
Coonora Pygmy grows into a 5 foot rounded, multi-trunk
shrub in ten years. The small leaves do not burn in sun and if
given a couple of hours of sun the spring and early summer colors are a
bright pinkish-orange. Leaves turn earlier than most dwarfs and
are a brilliant red and yellow, to a rainbow of colors as shown.
This maple is undemanding and it makes a great container plant and
dwarfs-down really nice. The bark is a bright green with red buds
in winter. |
 |
 |
Here I am inside a 125 year old Japanese maple lace leaf
in Pennslyvania. Japanese maples make the best specimen trees you
can find for part sun or dappled shade and now with our Shantung maples
you can also have a great colorful tree in the hot sun. These
certainly will be cherished in your yard and I am sure you will love
them through the years as much as I do. I have shown you 22 maples on this web page but don't forget that
everything in our "Current Catalog" is a worthy garden plant. Metro Maples selects
only the best cultivars for the
DF/W area from hundreds of trials. Lastly, don't worry too much about
their ultimate size, as they are slow to moderate growers
that will adapt to their location and last for generations. |
 |
|
|
|
