I have a small town-house yard, about 10x10 feet, and want a JM to plant to compliment my JM Butterfly which is about 8ft tall. The yard gets full mid-afternoon sun, and the Butterfly is planted on the far right side. Frankly, after learning about maples I'm surprised the Butterfly didn't fry in the sun and clay soil we have, BUT we mulched and watered it often and things worked out. Anyway, towards left of center we want to plant a JM that will be up to 7-11 feet tall max, and sun tolerance is needed. Based on research, I lean towards Nigrum, Bonfire, Akaji Nishiki, Winter Flame, and Beni Kawa. All subject to availability at local plant shops, of course. How well do those varieties do with full afternoon sun? Or what would you suggest? Any advice is welcome. PS--I live in the Pacific Northwest.
If you think three dimensionally you could get several JMs in that space - a small, narrow upright (how about 'Sensu'), a small weeper (Red Feathers), and a dwarf spreader (Komachi hime). All would compliment the Butterfly beautifully and each is different and unique in its own way.
Careful with Sensu, here is a photo of a larger Sensu and it is a good 10' wide and I have pruned it back.
Thanks for the nice photo of Sensu. When you pruned it did you cut off branches at the trunk, or did you cut some branches around half way?
I pruned it a few different times and ways. First because my trees are spaced right next to each other I have to prune to keep them from growing into each other, in doing this I look for a nice set of leaves to cut back to. The big pruning I did to this tree was to clean out the inside growth to show off the great structure of the tree but with Sensu I do not think that gives the best visual effect. The structure of this tree is great but the coloring of the leaves is such the leaves make the tree and the more leaves on the tree the better the coloring and the effect of the fan like leaves. I never try and cut branches halfway unless the branch is way out of proportion and cutting it off completely will ruin the look of the tree. I do cut a lot more branches off than many people. I look at this like hair, everyones hair looks much better if it is cut and cared for, trees are no different.
