The beauty, the mystique… but oh the price. We do get questions about why such lovely plants are so expensive, or how old the plants are in 1 gallon pots. One of our favorite suppliers, Iseli Nursery, has two informative charts that we wanted to share. The first chart is of an upright Japanese Maple, ‘Fireglow’. The second chart is of a weeping Japanese Maple, ‘Red Dragon’.
The answer is that, in general, Japanese Maples are NOT fast-growing trees. Those little trees in 1 gallon pots are actually 2 years old. The ones in 6 gallon pots are 6 years old – old enough to be in elementary school. That’s 6 years of care before it even reaches us. And the beauties in the 24” wooden boxes are 12 years old – for 12 years it has been nourished and maintained by expert horticulturalists before traveling to arrive in your garden.
The feature that makes these plants ideal for container growing – slow growth rate – is the same feature that means the costs go up when you’re looking for a sizable specimen.
The flipside of this steady, gentle growth is a long life span for such a small plant. Japanese Maples can live for over 100 years!
Japanese Maples (Acer palmatum) are small, understory trees with a slow growth rate. The majority of them flourish in partial shade or filtered light, and prefer moist well-draining soil. They are native to Japan, China, and Korea – in climates very similar to here in Western North Carolina. They are hardy to zone 5 (-20°F) when planted in the ground. Although they are not native, according to NCSU, our Imperial Moths (Eacles imperialis) and songbirds benefit from their presence. With over 1000 cultivars to choose from, a variety of leaf shapes, in colors that vary throughout the growing season, and high tolerance for being grown in containers (or in the ground), there is something for every garden.
Please note that these trees – especially if they are young – can benefit from being placed in a location protected from early spring frosts.
