Hi Everyone, I am so happy that I found this forum! :) I just started with a couple of Japanese Maples for my small garden last year and am now addicted. Recently, I bought a Ukigumo which has really nice color, very nice blend of white over the green leaves with the new leaves coming out in pink. My question is what lighting conditions would I have to keep it in to keep the leaves from turning completely/mostly green? I have read that some recommend that to keep the white, it needs to be more in the shade while others say it needs to be more in the sun? Any advice/opinion would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your replies and comments!
Shishi, take a look at the Ukigumo post in the Maples Gallery. I have two of them, one in heavy shade and the other receiving a couple of hours of sun in the morning: both look very good with outstanding variegation. With this cultivar I would be concerned with sun burn. If yours is in a pot you may try at different places to study its response to varying sun exposures. Gomero
My experience has been a little different from Gomero's. I've grown Ukigumo for about 10 years in the ground in quite heavy shade, with reasonably bright light but very little direct sun. I never saw much variegation, so this year I potted it up and put it in a sunny spot, and the variegation is stronger than I've ever seen. From a little distance, the leaves create the "whitest" effect of any maple I grow. It may be, though, that unlike Gomero's tree, mine was just in a position beyond the threshold of darkness needed to develop good variegation. I grew Higasayama right next to the Ukigumo, in deep shade, and I was interested to see over the years that the variegation on Higasayama was about perfect--very clear and well defined. So maybe the variegation on some cultivars is sun-dependent, on others less so. I put Sagara nishiki in good sun in the spring to develop good yellow variegation, but by July I always wheel it away from public view because it looks crummy-- I don't have any experience yet with Ukigumo in good sun--looks to me like it might burn in August around here (upstate NY), but we'll see...
I have a weak little Ukigumo in full sun (when we get any) This year it is leafing out really white and pink for the first time
