Japanese Maple, Red Emperor I Acer palmatum 'Wolff' Height: 18 feet Spread: 16 feet
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Hardiness Zone: 6a Other Names: Emperor 1 Description: A small home landscape feature tree that commands a premiere location in the front yard; enduring royal purple foliage all season long and turning fiery red and orange in fall, wonderfully artistic growth habit. Needs afternoon shade & wind protection. Ornamental Features Japanese Maple, Red Emperor I is primarily valued in the landscape for its ornamental globe-shaped form. It has attractive purple deciduous foliage. The ferny palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of scarlet and orange in the fall. Landscape Attributes Japanese Maple, Red Emperor I is an open deciduous tree with a more or less rounded form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage. This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned in summer after the leaves have fully developed, as it may 'bleed' sap if pruned in late winter or early spring. It has no significant negative characteristics. Japanese Maple, Red Emperor I is recommended for the following landscape applications; Planting & Growing Japanese Maple, Red Emperor I will grow to be about 18 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 16 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 4 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more. This tree does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should be periodically fertilized throughout the active growing season with a specially-formulated acidic fertilizer. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. Special Attributes Japanese maples generally produce a few to no seeds called samaras, which are commonly referred to as helicopters 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch long, and approximately 1/4 inch wide. Growing in pairs, they start green then mature red during the growing season
