I left my sister with an Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum' that I got for her when I visited her in Portland, OR. I was wondering if she can plant it in full sun from dawn to dusk ( she doesn't have anything in her big open garden. ) Most of the time the sky is cloudy and rainy but there are weeks of uninterrupted sun. I've read many 'care' sites and, as usual, they are very vague. Anyone in Portland growing this in full sun or in a similar climate with success stories?
It tends to scorch when grown in full sun in the UK, I guess it would do the same in Portland, maybe even worse. It does grows ok here in sun, just looks tatty in late summer.
Must have some shade even in Seattle as well, and Portland is hotter. After months of dull and damp it may turn quite hot and usually quite dry when summer finally comes - July is the driest month of the year, after the landscape cooks that month the general dryness persists until November, even though showers start creeping back in long before then. The golden fullmoon maple is a yellow-leaved variant of a monsoon climate species, making it prone to summer sun and drought in two ways.
Yup, needs shade up here in Vancouver. Of course being in full sun doesn't kill it, just burns the leaves and makes it look pretty shabby after mid-summer.