Growing maples in extreme conditions

Agustín Coello-Vera
1. Introduction
2. Geographical Distribution of
Japanese Maples
3. Difficult climate 1: Hot and humid
4. Difficult climate 2: Extreme cold
5. Difficult climate 3: Hot and dry
6. Conclusions
7. Slide Show
There are many Maple Species growing
in a large variety of conditions in 3
Continents
But the most widely planted maples are
the Japanese Maples
And among the Japanes Maples we
will focus on A. palmatum, A. amoenum,
A. japonicum and A. shirasawanum
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese
Aceraceae, with Special Reference to
Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer japonicum
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer shirasawanum
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer palmatum
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer amoenum
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer amoenum var. matsumurae
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer amoenum var. matsumurae
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Acer shirasawanum
Acer palmatum
Acer japonicum
Acer amoenum
From : ‘A Dendrological Study on the Japanese Aceraceae, with Special Reference to Geographical Distribution ’, K.Ogata, 1965
Nagano
Houston
Heat & Sun
In August most Japanese
maples have leaves
completely scorched and in
some cases the maple is
almost entirely bare
These new leaves in August will
get fried again in September
• Usually most maples have a new set
of leaves for mid-October
• Fall colors appear from late
November to late-December
• All trees go bare by mid-January
• New leaves from late February
Seiryu January 5th
Katsura early-August
Japanese maples can indeed be grown successfully in
Houston, hot and humid zone 9
But this means you have to renounce to enjoy your trees
during the summer
The two (or three) yearly leaf-out processes may be taxing
to the trees and may handicap long term viability
Some Acer palmatum cultivars seem to do pretty well