Japanese Maple
Acer palmatum · a red-leaf Japanese maple
Prized for its graceful, layered shape and green, red or purple leaves that colour up again in fall. Upright and weeping forms suit patios and small gardens. Give it dappled shade and steady moisture, out of drying wind. It self-seeds, and a Mid-Atlantic pest council lists it as invasive in Virginia and DC.
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- Mature size
- 17 × 15 ft
- 5.5 × 4.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5b–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Part sun to part shade
- Water
- Medium to moist
- Fall color
- Oct–Nov
Japanese Maple at its mature size
A mature Japanese Maple grows 15 to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: Monrovia.
Through the year
What Japanese Maple looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Mar
Bare: fine twiggy layered branches reaching to the same outline, blackish-red bark, no leaves anywhere.
New growth · Apr–May
Just after leafing out: fresh, soft, glossy bright crimson-red young leaves, a brighter and lighter red than the deep burgundy of summer.
In leaf · Jun–Sep
Deep burgundy to reddish-purple leaves, dense and even.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Peak autumn colour: every leaf brilliant scarlet to orange-red, glowing and fairly uniform, brighter than the summer burgundy.
Photos
Growing Japanese Maple
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, the Pacific Northwest, and California.
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Good for
- Small space, specimen, shade garden, deer resistant, and fall color
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Japan, Korea, and China
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Japanese Maple, that’s about 15 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Japanese Maple in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other maples
Japanese Maple
Autumn Blaze Maple
Red MapleAll drawn to the same scale.