Plant Encyclopedia

Group/Class:  Dissectum

Description:

This wonderful tree posesses fine ferny foliage in a lovely green and turns a brilliant scarlet in fall; unusual and rare for a dissectum in that it grows in an upright form, making this a great choice for a solitary accent in the garden

Ornamental Features

Seiryu Japanese Maple is primarily valued in the landscape for its ornamental globe-shaped form. It features subtle corymbs of red flowers rising above the foliage in mid spring before the leaves. It has attractive light green deciduous foliage which emerges red in spring. The deeply cut ferny palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of gold, orange and red in the fall. The rough gray bark and red branches add an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Seiryu Japanese Maple is a deciduous tree with a more or less rounded form. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

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.

Seiryu Japanese Maple is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Shade
• Mass Planting

Planting & Growing

Seiryu Japanese Maple will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 15 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 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.