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The Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum, is a small, elegant, spreading tree that prefers partial shade and is grown for its finely cut, rich red, orange and gold autumn leaves. It produces winged seeds called samara.
Its graceful, spreading, layered habit will reach no more than about 5 metres tall.
Browse our variety of acer trees or see our full range of garden trees.
Browse our other Maple varieties, or all of our trees.
Delivery season: Maple trees are delivered bareroot during late autumn and winter, approximately November-March inclusive.
They are measured by their height in centimetres above the ground, the roots aren't measured.
Perfect for small, shady city gardens. It is better not to plant it in full sun, where its leaves may get scorched in a hot summer. It loves heavy clay soils as long as they aren't waterlogged, and tolerate shallow chalk, but really thrives best on acidic or neutral soils, so a pot is best on very limey soil.
This slow-growing tree is best left unpruned if possible; it is naturally graceful and pruning often does more harm than good to its structure, at least while the tree is still young. With mature trees, you can remove the smallest branches and some side shoots to help expose the form of the main branches.
It is fully hardy across the UK, however, in Northern locations it will suffer harmless but unsightly leaf damage in exposed, windy locations.
Top dress with multipurpose fertiliser in spring. It's simple to raise the canopy of the tree by pruning out the lower branches in late autumn or winter. At the same time, take out any dead, damaged or crossing branches.
Aphids can be a problem, especially when grown in pots. Keep well watered to help with this.
Also called Smooth Japanese Maple to distinguish it from cultivars with rough bark like Arakawa, this tree has been cultivated for so long, into so many forms, that it is hard to be certain what the wild tree looks like. Our trees are grown from seed, which about as close to wild as you can get. It is native from Russia to Japan and down to Korea. It was named by Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828) during his fifteen or so months in Japan in 1775-6, and the first specimen was brought to Britain in the 1820's.
Palmatum means "like a hand", which refers to the five fingered shape of the leaves, and its Japanese names kaede and momiji make the same comparison. It is a famous bonsai tree.
Although these wild species plants do not hold an RHS Award of Garden Merit, they have produced about 27 varieties that do, which mostly differ only in appearance, so it effectively holds the award in terms of being easy to grow.
Former botanical names include Acer polymorphum and Acer jucundum.