Japanese Maples For Winter Interest

from Washington Gardener December 2018

Joe Howard: The Big Tree Man

By Sharee Solow

What is there not to like about Japanese Maples? They have beautiful spring and fall foliage, grow well in our region, live longer than us, come in numerous forms, can be pruned into graceful shapes, fit into pots or any size landscapes, are fun to collect, and display a crayon box of winter bark color. With hundreds of Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) cultivars to choose from, it can be intimidating because many of the names are in Japanese, but don’t be daunted. Remember the basic rule of shopping: Buy what you like.

Beware that, like cute pets in a shelter, sometimes you can’t bear to leave them behind. A couple of years ago, I was shopping for maples for a client and A. palmatum ‘Fukinagashi’ had to be in my car. The deep, dark-purple stems and leaves decorated a perfectly open framework of opposite branches and were exceptional and unique. When the client rejected this beauty, it quickly went into a container at my back door, where it stands out against the light clapboard wall.

Bark colors on “palmatums” range from purple/black to red to orange to bright yellow, exceeding the more familiar bright bark of the Redtwig dogwood (Cornus sps.) for design options with winter interest. Leaf color is just a bonus!

Japanese Terms

Now, we’ll play a name game. Below is a short guide to those elegant Japanese cultivar names used as poetic descriptions of plant characteristics. Here are a few you may have seen in a garden center, not only on Japanese Maples, but other plants as well.

• Ai - love

• Ara - rough

• Ao - green or blue

• Beni - scarlet red

• Bo - long pieces of wood, as in weapons

• Dai - large or maximum

• Fübüki - snowstorm

• Fuiri - variegated

• Füji - peerless

• Goshiki - multicolor

• Harü - spring

• Hime - dwarf

• Hana - flower

• Ichi - one

• Kaku - angle, corner, write

• Kara - from

• Kawa - river

• Koto - about

• Mai - dance

• Nishiki - brocade

• Ogon - Golden

• Ori - folding

• Ryü - dragon

• Sango - coral

• Sei - tendency toward

• Seiun - nebula

• Yatsabusa - witch’s broom

• Zümi - fingernail

Colorful Cultivars

Next, let’s walk around the exceptional collection of Ed Shinn and review some Acer palmatum to see how the words and the trees connect.

• Aizumi-nishiki: Time to use your new list above, because this has a “brocade” of yellow and green swirls in the trunk and you’ll love the “fingernails” on these very splashy springtime two-toned leaves of white and pink, so intense that even the stems can have red streaks.

• Allen’s Gold: Knobs of corky bark on a gold background give a rugged colorful accent; no dictionary needed.

• Arakawa: A “rough river” of corky bark covers this great example of winter interest in Japanese Maples–Arakawaku is a raging river.

• Bazinga: New names can be fun, too. This one has bright-green rings like bamboo.

• Beni-hime: A “scarlet-red dwarf” tree, where it’s easy to see the showy red bark that goes with the foliage.

• Bihou: Neon-yellow bark and foliage make this tree glow in any winter garden, like “a beautiful mountain range” as it’s translated.

• Cosmos: A modern named cultivar with a brocade of yellow and green swirls in the trunk.

• Crimson Prince: If you like red stems and leaves, this might be the perfect one for you.

• Daidai-haru: Waxy olive-green and burgundy branches shine out from pretty green leaves in fall, but it’s named for the bright-orange/red spring color on a fast-growing tree

• Emporer One: If you can only find this large trees at your local shop, it can add nice movement to a static landscape.

• Hana-fubuki: Bright-green branches hold its “flowery snowstorm” of white and pink variegated leaves

• Harusame: This one is “spring-rain,” but you’ll want it for the fall color of red and gold on handsome, roughly textured bark.

• Kara-ori-nishiki: Decorative red/ green, slightly variegated foliage leads to it being named for a Japanese brocade used by dancers and contrasts with the rugged green trunks.

• Katsura-hime: Lime-green branches are very showy and the leaves on this dwarf reminiscent of the Katsura Tree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum).

• Kocho-nishiki: By now, you are getting the idea with the names. Kōchō refers to a short era from 1261 to 1264, during the Emperor’s “Chrysanthemum Throne.” The tree has red trunks.

• Koto-hime: Smooth green trunks are broken by corky rings for the stems of unusually small foliage, making it a favorite for bonsai training, so it is indeed all “about dwarf.”

• Kouri-jishi: This wonderful green trunk with up-curled little leaves are so charming, the name must have a story: kouri (retail) and jishi (private secretary or respectfully).

• Mikawa-yatsubusa: A witches’ broom with interesting green trunks prized for its unique, overlapping leaves that turn red/yellow in fall.

• Noel: Apricot bark? Yes, you can.

• Ryusen: Need a cascade for a wall? This displays orange/red bark and fall foliage. The trailing/twisiting maple’s name is from Ryu-sei “dragon spirit.”

• Seiun-kaku: Burgundy/green trunks echo the burgundy leaf corners.

• Taiyo-nishiki: Gorgeous, brocaded trunks with dark bands make me think of the accompanying massive stonework in a shogun’s garden.

• Tatsuta: Another brocade of green, but with thin contrasting lines like a Snakebark maple.

• Trompenburg: Beautiful, red-orange fall foliage makes this popular, but the brown trunks don’t make it my first choice for bark interest.

• Tsuri-nishiki: The contrast of the green trunks with spring’s twisted rosy leaves on the raspberry stems turning to multi-color red/orange/gold makes for amazing garden interest all year.

• Windover: This modern foundling has bright-yellow branches with salmon leaves that turn bright yellow in fall.

To further your understanding of terms and nomenclature, I recommend "Romaji-English Japanese Bonsai Terms and Tree Names" by Robert Z. Callaham.

That’s our Japanese Maple class for today. Congratulations! You are ready to go shopping for your own Japanese Maple and join a large group of gardeners who find them irresistible.

About the Author:

Sharee Solow, PCH, ASLA, blends a lifetime of learning and global experience to offer uniquely sophisticated landscape designs (www.solowhorticulturaldesigns.com). She lives with her husband and one cat in Elkins Park, PA.