Crimson Queen Japanese Maple

Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Crimson Queen’

Plant Details

USDA Plant Hardiness Zones: 5a-9a Find Your Zone

Plant Type: Deciduous Shrub or Tree

Height at Maturity: 6-10′

Width at Maturity: 8-10′
Spacing: 14’+ for space between plants

Growth Habit / Form: Cascading, Mounding, Weeping, Broad

Growth Rate: Moderate

Foliage Color in Spring: Deep Red

Foliage Color in Summer: Bronze-purple

Foliage Color in Fall: Hot Pinkish-red

Light Needs: Full Sun or Mostly Sun, Morning Sun with Dappled or Afternoon Shade, All Day Filtered Sun, Morning Shade with Evening Sun, Shade or Mostly Shade

Water Needs: Average, moderately drought tolerant when established

Soil Type: Sandy, Loam & Clay (Condition heavy clay soils when planting)

Drainage: Well drained soil is a must!

Soil pH: 5.0 – 7.0 is ideal

Maintenance: Low

Resistances: Deer – more info, Heat Tolerant, Insect Resistant, Sun Tolerant, Disease

Description

Perhaps the most popular of all red lace leaf varieties, the Crimson Queen Japanese Maple is prized for its display of crimson red foliage and attractive, dense, weeping form. The thinly dissected, lacy leaves emerge a deep red in spring, turning to a bronze purple in summer, then to a sunning, hot pinkish-red in fall. All grown up this beauty might reach 6 to 10 feet tall (depending on graft height and pruning) and wide.

Landscape & Garden Uses

To showcase its magnificence and beauty, a Japanese Maple is best used in landscape design as a focal point specimen to draw attention to a specific area of the home or landscape. That said, you can plant them in groupings of three or plant one on both sides of an entryway. An ideal selection for landscape beds or in containers.

Suggested Spacing: At least 14 feet apart for space between trees

Container culture can extend the useful range of Japanese Maples. They are extremely easy to grow in containers, a practice taken to its most extreme form in the art of bonsai. Click on the link below under Helpful Articles for Japanese Maple container planting instructions.

Note: One Japanese Maple can make a landscape…that is, if you don’t overcrowd it with other trees and plants. Therefore, when choosing companions to plant under or around your Japanese Maple, make sure to select low-growing shrubs or groundcover plants that won’t interfere at all with your tree.

Note: For our customers who live and garden north of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 5a, where this Japanese Maple variety is not reliably winter hardy, you’ll be happy to know it can be grown in containers that can be brought indoors during winter and placed back outside when temperatures warm up in spring.

Growing Preferences

Though delicate looking, Japanese Maples are actually very tough and long-lived trees that are very easy to grow. Container culture can extend their useful range. They are extremely easy to grow in containers, a practice taken to its most extreme form in the art of bonsai.

In their natural habitat, Japanese Maples are understory trees, growing in dappled forest sunlight at the edges of woodlands. Ideally they prefer to be grown in similar conditions. That said, there are many sun-tolerant Japanese Maple varieties, of which Crimson Queen is one.

Most any average garden soil will grow Japanese Maples. They prefer a moist but well-drained soil rich in organic matter. As with so many other ornamental plants and trees, constantly soggy or wet soil can be problematic. So make sure to plant your Japanese Maple in a well-drained site.

Helpful Articles

Click on a link below to get helpful advice from our experts on how to plant and care for Japanese Maple trees.

How To Plant A Japanese Maple Tree In The Ground

How to Plant A Japanese Maple Tree In A Pot

How To Fertilize And Water A Japanese Maple Tree

How To Prune A Japanese Maple

Plant Long & Prosper!

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