During the high winds in the last several months, a tree outside my grandmother's window went over, roots and all. She is asking me to see that it is replaced. She is leaning towards a Japanese Maple. I've been looking, and reading, and thought your advice would be helpful. The situation: - it is Seattle (8a, I think) - it will be on the south side of an off-white building - full afternoon sun - she wants it to partially shade a window, so a height of 10+ feet; however not so tall that it will block the window of her upstairs neighbors, so I would guess a 16 to 18 feet max - she wants it to be wide so it'll also lean partially over her deck and partially shade another window - she is 95, and wants it now (she says she won't live to be 100; I think she'll outlive us all, time will tell) so it shouldn't be a small tree. However, getting an older tree might be out of our price range...we'll just have to investigate further. So far I'm thinking Glowing Embers, Moonfire, Osakazuki, Seiyu and Shishigashira. I'd appreciate your thoughts, comments and suggestions. Thank you for any assistance you can provide. -Pam
You can get a "plain green Japanese Maple" for pretty cheap. They get fairly large and take afternoon sun. I just seen a 10 gal. 7ft Japanese Maple at a local hardware store for $26.99. I have seen 8-9ft trees at nurseries for about $100.
Thanks for the suggestion. Do I need to worry that it'll grow too tall for the space? Or do the green ones not get bigger than 20 feet? I'll take a look at the local garden store and see what there is this weekend. If you have more specific recommendations, I'm listening. -Pam
