Japanese Maples

Live Japanese Maple Trees for Ornamental Landscaping

Few trees bring as much color, texture, and quiet drama to a landscape as a Japanese maple. Known for their delicate, deeply cut foliage and stunning seasonal color changes, Japanese maples function as living sculpture in a yard — the kind of tree people plant specifically to look at, not just to fill space.

Our collection includes seven varieties, each with its own leaf shape, color, and growth habit, but all sharing the same basic appeal: a smaller-scale ornamental tree that rewards close attention rather than demanding a huge footprint.

Choosing a Variety by Color & Form

The Bloodgood Japanese Maple is one of the most widely planted varieties, prized for its deep reddish-purple foliage that holds its color well through the growing season. The Crimson Queen Japanese Maple offers a weeping, cascading form with finely cut, lace-like red leaves, making it a popular choice as a specimen tree where its draping shape can be fully appreciated. The Tamukeyama Japanese Maple shares that weeping habit with its own take on deep red foliage, while the Inaba Shidare Japanese Maple brings a similarly cascading form with foliage that shifts through the seasons.

For something with a more upright, sculptural presence, the Waterfall Japanese Maple lives up to its name with a graceful, cascading canopy of bright green foliage that turns gold in fall. The Coral Bark Japanese Maple Tree stands out even in winter, when its bare branches reveal a striking coral-red bark color that few other trees can match. The Red Dragon Japanese Maple Tree rounds out the collection with deeply dissected, maroon-red foliage on a compact, mounding form.

Growing Conditions

Most Japanese maples in this collection are rated for zones 5 through 8 outdoors, with the Waterfall and Inaba Shidare varieties extending slightly further to zones 5 through 9. This makes Japanese maples a solid fit for temperate, four-season climates rather than the extreme ends of hot or cold.

Sun requirements vary meaningfully by variety, which matters more for Japanese maples than for many other ornamental trees — too much hot afternoon sun can scorch the delicate foliage on some varieties. The Waterfall and Tamukeyama Japanese Maples prefer part sun specifically, while the Inaba Shidare, Crimson Queen, Red Dragon, Coral Bark, and Bloodgood varieties tolerate full to part sun, giving a bit more flexibility depending on your yard's exposure.

Where Japanese Maples Shine

Japanese maples are most often planted as specimen trees — positioned somewhere they'll be seen and appreciated on their own, rather than mixed into a dense planting bed. A weeping variety like the Crimson Queen or Tamukeyama works beautifully near an entryway or beside a water feature, where its cascading form has room to be the visual focus. More upright varieties like the Bloodgood can anchor a garden bed or serve as a smaller-scale alternative to larger shade trees.

A Tree That Changes With the Seasons

What makes Japanese maples especially rewarding is how much they change throughout the year — fresh spring color, full summer foliage, a dramatic fall color shift, and in the case of varieties like the Coral Bark, a striking presence even in bare winter branches. Choose a variety based on the color and form you want, match it to your available sun exposure, and you'll have a tree that earns its spot in the landscape in every season.