Plant, Tree & Shrub Library

Other Names:  Laceleaf, Threadleaf Japanese Maple

Group/Class:  Dissectum

Description:

Amazing gold-orange fall color; delicate, lacy leaves of bright green during summer on a cascading form; Japanese maples are the most coveted of all small landscape trees, it has almost the perfect shape, habit, and fall colors

Ornamental Features

Japanese Viridis Maple is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its cascading habit of growth. It has attractive green deciduous foliage. The small deeply cut ferny palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of gold and orange in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Japanese Viridis Maple is a dense deciduous tree with a shapely form and gracefully arching branches. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned in summer after the leaves have fully developed, as it may 'bleed' sap if pruned in late winter or early spring. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Japanese Viridis Maple is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Japanese Viridis Maple will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 60 years or more.

This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Japanese Viridis Maple is a fine choice for the yard, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden. Be aware that in our climate, most plants cannot be expected to survive the winter if left in containers outdoors, and this plant is no exception. Contact our experts for more information on how to protect it over the winter months.