Pink Ballerina Japanese Maple

Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Pink Ballerina’

Plant Details

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

Height at Maturity: 3-4′ in 10 years; 6-8′ over time

Width at Maturity: 3-4′ in 10 years; 6-8′ over time

Growth Habit / Form: Weeping, Cascading, Mounding

Growth Rate: Slow

Foliage Color in Spring: Pink with Red and Green

Foliage Color in Summer: Green and White with Red and Pink new growth

Foliage Color in Fall: Orange, Red

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

Water Needs: Average

Soil Type: Clay (amend heavy clay soil for good drainage), Loam, Sandy (amend quick draining soil for moisture retention), Silty

Drainage: Moist but Well-Drained – Well drained soil is a must!

Soil pH: 5.0 – 7.0 is ideal

Maintenance: Low

Resistances: Deer, Heat Tolerant, Insect Resistant, Sun Tolerant

Description

Adored for its arching weeping branches clothed in pink spring foliage, ‘Pink Ballerina’ is a dwarf Japanese Maple with beautiful lacy leaves emerging a variegation of pink, red and green in spring turning burgundy-green and white in summer with pink and red new leaves. Fall color is shades of orange and red. We recommend growing this rare beauty in shade to part sun with no direct sunlight during the hot afternoon hours.

Pink Ballerina was discovered at Junkers Nursery in England as a sport of Acer dissectum ‘Nigrum Select’ but we think it looks a lot like ‘Hana Matoi’. The base color of Pink Ballerina is a deeper rich reddish to purple like that of Hana Matoi, with pink variegation. A good amount of sunlight in the morning and/or late afternoon through evening hours provides better color, however, avoid midday sun to protect the variegated portions.

Landscape & Garden Uses

To showcase its magnificence and beauty, Pink Ballerina Japanese maple is a dwarf ideal for use as a specimen in smaller garden spaces and containers 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.

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 groundcover plants, such as Dwarf Mondo Grass or Golden Creeping Jenny, that won’t interfere at all with your tree.

Growing Preferences

Though delicate looking, Japanese Maples are actually very tough and long-lived trees. They are very easy to grow.

In their natural habitat, Japanese Maples are understory trees, growing in dappled forest sunlight at the edges of woodlands. Ideally, the Pink Ballerina Japanese Maple prefers to be grown in similar conditions. That said, if you are needing a maple that will tolerate more sun there are many sun-tolerant Japanese Maple varieties.

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 find 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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Questions? Contact Us!

Very nice——————————–Thanks for the photo, it’s beautiful. We are so glad you are pleased and we hope you enjoy it for years to come! Thanks for the great review! 🙂 Beth Steele | WBG