THE current trend toward smaller houses and yards spurs interest in scaled­ down trees for the land­scape. These top Japanese maple trees comprise an unusually hand­some group of plants which merit serious consideration.

These trees exhibit wide variety in forms, heights at maturity, leaf patterns and spring, summer and fall foli­age colors. They have grace­ful habit. The shrubby types have round or globular shapes while the taller‐growing, more vigorous kinds have a somewhat open, vaselike crown. Heights vary from dwarf shrubs to small shade trees 20 to 25 feet tall. The leaves are moderately to deeply segmented into five to 11 lobes with some varieties so deeply dissected they ap­pear skeletonize.

Japanese Maple Trees Colorful Foliage

American gardeners prefer the red or purple types. The Japanese favor the green­leaved forms for their strik­ingly handsome fall colors. In Japan the maple is called the “autumn welcoming tree” and it is planted in the western portion of gardens (the direc­tion from which fall comes).

The Japanese maples are varieties and forms of two species:

• Acer japonicum of Japan, Korea and Manchuria
• A. palmatum of Japan and eastern China

Both are shrubs or small trees with seedlings of the two species showing great variation in habit and in leaf patterns and colors.

Top Japanese Maple Trees At Arbor Hills Tree Farm