When you witness this variety’s red and orange fall colors you will understand this tree’s common name, “Dancing Peacock.’ If that weren’t enough, spring brings beautiful red flowers that are much more prominent than the typical maple.

My “fascination” with this cultivar stems primarily from its graceful shape - this acer really shows best in winter! As a result this is definitely a tree that looks great 52 weeks a year.

It’s a very twiggy acer and in order for it to look good, Tom has to heavily prune it. This one is a lot of work, probably more than any tree at MapleWalk.

A wonderful spreading tree (not a weeper) that the catalogs describe as 4’ by 4’. The four foot height is accurate, but my 20 year old “baby” is 14’ from tip to tip making it a true garden favorite and earning its moniker as a “tabletop maple.”

Many consider this to variety to have the best red fall color. It’s a beautiful upright (12’-15’) green leafed tree most of the year, but a real show-stopper in the fall, We have visitors come to visit MapleWalk just to see ‘Osakazuki’ in November.

This will be unlike any other maple in your garden. Growing straight down, this extreme weeper will actually become a groundcover if you don’t stake it to create height. I have two specimens: one cascading in a large pot, the other staked to 7 feet and then allowed to flow over surrounding boulders.