Hello, I just purchased my third Japanese maple today, so I am a novice. However, I have had my Bloodgood and Coral Bark for 3 and 2 years respectively and they are doing beautifully so I am very excited. I am wondering about the best location for a Crimson Queen. I live in the middle of South Carolina; July, August and September can be quite brutal. I was wondering if the amount of sun affects how red the leaves would be. All those types of things. I have a bed in toward the back of my yard where I would like to plant it; the tree would get a lot of sun but there are a lot of tall pines that I suppose would slightly "dapple" the sun to some extent. My Coral bark maple is back there at the front of the bed so that it receives no shade from the pines and it's great. I am very diligent about keeping everything watered. Anyway, I'll stop rambling and let you professionals give me your ideas! Thanks!
I'd plant it in the shade, and ideally also where it can be seen in isolation, as a feature. Weeping laceleaf maples are so aberrant in appearance that they do not combine well with most other plants. Moss may be the most suitable companion plant. Since they are trees with defined trunks and elevated branches (even inside low ones that have not been staked to gain height) if there are other, normal-sized trees in the same scene a conflict of scale is produced.
I agree with Ron, JMs are very "narcisist" specially the weeping cultivars, so anything surrounding it must be dwarf with contrasting color. Nelran
But do you think it needs lots of shade or only some shade? Does the tree need sun to have red leaves? I've read conflicting advice. Thanks again.
In deep shade the inner- or lowermost leaves in particular of purple-leaved forms may go greenish as summer progresses. However, in hot sun they fade and burn. I'll take less-than-completely-purple over brown paper bag any day.
Thank you all for your input! I agree, Ron, I definitely do not want brown paper bag leaves. Last summer here in Columbia, we had no rain and about 3 weeks with over 100 degrees (up to 112) and the Bloodgood started to look pretty bad. But so did my new Kousa dogwood and everything else for that matter!
I live in NC and with a Crimson Queen that I've had for years. It gets sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon and keeps its red color all summer long. It handles heat and sun better than most dissectums, but protection from hot afternoon sun is actually a plus. Just make sure it has plenty of room to spread out. CQ tends to grow wider than tall. I have two other red dissectums, Garnet and Red Dragon. The Garnet loses most of its red coloration by June, although it is in a shadier location. Red Dragon keeps its red color season-long but is extremely slow growing.
I live in Roanoke, VA and have a 'Crimson Queen' that I planted in 2001 when I guess it was 5-6 years old. The tree is on the north side of the house and receives no direct sunlight. It was 51 inches tall when planted in 2001 and last November it measured 56 inches tall. It has grown much wider and the canopy is quite full. The three attached photos were taken showing the Spring, Fall, and late Fall color. Hope this provides some more information on which to make an evaluation. Swanny
Morning sun until around noon followed by filtered shade or high filtered shade all day keep the sunburn away here in the upstate. You will definitely need some sun to retain even much of a spring coloration for crimson queen. Red dragon on the other hand has held very well for me in a fairly wooded area.
