Emperor I Japanese Maple
A fast-growing 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
Essentials for Success
For flourishing plants, use potting soil for potted plants or planting mix for garden beds paired with Root Zone starter fertilizer is the perfect duo to foster robust root growth and minimize transplant shock.
Details
Emperor I Japanese Maple 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.
Emperor I Japanese Maple is recommended for the following landscape applications:
- Accent
- Shade
- Mass Planting
Features
Emperor I Japanese Maple has attractive purple foliage throughout the season. The ferny palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of scarlet and orange in the fall. Neither the flowers nor the fruit are ornamentally significant.
Care
Planting & Growing
Emperor I Japanese Maple will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 20 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 fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.
This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. 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.
