Plant Encyclopedia

Description:

This broadly columnar variety has leaves that emerge plum-red, then mature to purplish-green over the summer, turning orange to crimson in fall; lovely upright habit makes it great as a feature tree

Ornamental Features

Inazuma Japanese Maple is primarily valued in the landscape for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It has attractive plum purple-variegated green foliage which emerges plum purple in spring. The lobed palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of scarlet, orange and crimson in the fall.

Landscape Attributes

Inazuma Japanese Maple is a dense deciduous tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. 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.

Inazuma Japanese Maple is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening

Planting & Growing

Inazuma Japanese Maple will grow to be about 30 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 5 feet from the ground, and should not be planted underneath 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 full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. 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.