Japanese Maple, Emperor Acer palmatum 'Red Emperor' Height: 15 feet Spread: 15 feet
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Hardiness Zone: 5b Other Names: Acer palmatum 'Wolff' Description: An upright feature tree for the home landscape, with rich dark red leaves in summer, turning brilliant scarlet in fall; a very artistic spreading growth habit. Needs afternoon shade and wind protection. Ornamental Features Japanese Maple, Emperor is primarily valued in the landscape for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It features subtle corymbs of red flowers rising above the foliage in mid spring before the leaves. It has attractive dark red deciduous foliage which emerges brick red in spring. The lobed palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding scarlet in the fall. The rough gray bark and red branches add an interesting dimension to the landscape. Landscape Attributes Japanese Maple, Emperor is a deciduous tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition. This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and can be pruned at anytime. It has no significant negative characteristics. Japanese Maple, Emperor is recommended for the following landscape applications; Planting & Growing Japanese Maple, Emperor will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a high canopy with a typical clearance of 5 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 60 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
