The Best Time for Japanese Red Maples

Non-Dissected Group

• Japanese maples are divided into two main groups -- those with dissected leaves and those with non-dissected leaves. Non-dissected Japanese maples produce dark red to purple leaves in the spring, which fade to a greenish bronze in the summer. In the fall, they return to reddish purple.

Dissected Group

• Japanese maples in the dissected group are compact, low-growing shrubs with twisting branch patterns. They are often used as ornamental trees or as part of property borders. Most cultivars have purple to red spring leaves that turn copper, yellow, orange or red in the fall.

Flashy Cultivars

• Burgundy Lace is a showy, non-dissected, 10-foot tall, 12-foot wide Japanese maple cultivar with branches that droop to the ground. Reddish-purple spring leaves turn a purplish-bronze in the summer before returning to its spring colors in the fall. Crimson Queen is a dissected, 10-foot cultivar with cascading branches, bright crimson spring leaves, bronze-green summer leaves and scarlet fall leaves.