Coral Bark Japanese Maple is a beautiful small deciduous tree with an airy rounded crown and brilliant red-coral bark on its young branches and a soft grey trunk.  The deeply cut palmate leaves emerge coral pink and matures to lime-green with red margins before turning vibrant golden yellow in fall. Small non-showy but umbels of red flowers bloom in spring followed by samaras.  Grows best in rich, moist, slightly acidic well-drained soils.  Prefers full sun in cooler climates, but needs afternoon shade in southern areas.  

MAINTENANCE NEEDS: Low maintenance.  Water regularly.  Mulch in southern climates to keep roots cool.  Keep pruning to a minimum and prune in summer after leaves mature.  Potential issues include stem canker, leaf spots, fusarium, wilt, botrytis, anthracnose, and root rots.  Potential insect pests include aphids, scale, borers, root weevils, and mites.  Chlorosis may occur in high pH soils.

LANDSCAPE USES: Group Plantings or Specimen Tree, Naturalized Areas, Woodland Gardens, Privacy Screen, Street Tree, and  Shade Tree

COMPANION PLANTS: Pieris, Rhododendron, Hosta

IMAGES: Photo by David J. Stang, Acer palmatum Sango kaku 7zz, CC BY-SA 4.0, (2) Photo by David J. Stang, Acer palmatum Sango-kaku 1zz, CC BY-SA 4.0

*As plants have ranges in appearance they may not appear as the images shown.