Viridis Japanese Maple

Japanese Maples are the queens of the garden, with an air of delicate beauty that falsely suggests they are incredibly difficult to grow. This is not true. If placed in a suitable location they will spend trouble-free lives in your garden, becoming more and more beautiful and special with each passing year. When you are choosing plants for small gardens, every plant has to be special to earn a place and the Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis is so very special it should definitely be in every garden. In winter the delicate tracery of the twigs will be a charming picture in your sleeping garden

Growing Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis Trees

Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis will grow slowly to 8 or 10 feet tall, becoming broader and cascading right to the ground as it grows. Because it stays small there is room for this amazing tree in even the smallest garden. Even if you don’t have a garden at all it makes a beautiful tree for a pot and is also a perfect specimen for bonsai. Growing in a gorgeous oriental container this will be a specimen for your terrace or balcony that will bring oriental grace to any setting. If growing in a pot it can even be brought inside for short periods but it should live outdoors most of the time.

Hardiness and Soil Conditions

Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis is hardy from zones 5 to 8, so it can be grown in gardens across most of America. It does best in partial shade, especially with protection from the hot afternoon sun. Although it prefers some shade it will grow in sunnier locations as long as it gets plenty of water. Japanese Maple prefers deep, loamy soil that is rich in organic material and that is damp but well-drained and slightly acidic. If your soil is alkaline use a fertilizer called chelated iron each spring to keep your tree healthy.

It is a good idea to also mulch around your tree each spring with peat-moss or lime-free compost or manure to conserve moisture. Pruning is not normally needed but should be done in winter or late fall if required to shape your tree a little. Your tree should be left to naturally develop its own unique grace and charm.

Planting Location and Sun Exposure

Choose the location for your Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis carefully. Find a place with the right amount of shade that is also a place where you can see your tree and admire it. Dig a hole three times wider than the pot and add lots of organic material and peat-moss to the soil. Place your plant in the hole, replace most of the soil and firm it well down. Then water thoroughly and replace the rest of the soil, being careful not to cover the roots with any extra soil. Mulch around your tree but keep the mulch away from the trunk.

History and Origins of the Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis

The Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) is, of course, native to Japan, but can also be found growing in Korea as well as parts of Russia and Mongolia. It is a small tree that grows 20 to 30 feet tall in the shade beneath other larger forest trees. For centuries, unusual specimens have been collected and cultivated in Japan and more recently also in North America and Europe, so that today hundreds of different forms are available.

Every spring people buy red red-leaved forms which are indeed beautiful in spring – but they typically lose their color over summer and become dingy, greenish and uninteresting. Green-leaved forms have the same delicately beautiful divided leaves but they are a bright green all season, until turning to brilliant colors in the fall. They stand out in the garden and do not disappear in the shade as red forms can easily do.

Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Viridis’ was developed to have a gorgeous cascading form with branches spilling down to the ground and even flowing further down if you plant your tree on a slope or among rocks. This tree grows slowly to reach just 8 or perhaps 10 feet tall and it will be almost as wide across. When mature it is a dome-shaped cascading tree with a twisted trunk and curving branches.

The leaves are 2 to 3 inches long, with seven lobes and they are deeply dissected right to the base. The flowers are not significant although they are pretty close up, and they form into delicate miniature maple ‘keys’ that may hang on the trees into winter. The bark is smooth and grey-green, with delicate light-gray lines flowing across it. The fine tracery of young stems makes a beautiful picture in the winter even without the leaves.

Buying Viridis Japanese Maples at The Tree Center

Weeping Japanese Maple Viridis is such a special plant that only the exact plant will have the correct leaves in delicate green and the beautiful cascading form. So it must be produced directly from trees absolutely known to be exactly the right variety. Our trees are grown the correct way, by grafting small branches from these special trees onto seedlings of ordinary Japanese Maples. That way every tree is identical to the original. All this takes time and the trees grow slowly, so cheap trees will not be genuine. There are many seedling Japanese Maples available that will only be a great disappointment to you.

We sell only trees that are true to the original form and we have a wide range of sizes to give you the best plant for your purpose. However, we are constantly renewing our stock so our customers get fresh, healthy plants, so supplies of this tree may be limited. To avoid disappointment order now.