Purple Ghost Japanese Maple

Acer palmatum ‘Purple Ghost’

Plant Details

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

Height at Maturity: 15-20′

Width at Maturity: 15-18′

Growth Habit / Form: Upright

Growth Rate: Moderate to Fast

Foliage Color in Spring: Lavender to Purple depending on sun

Foliage Color in Summer: Greenish-Purple

Foliage Color in Fall: Brilliant Brilliant Purple-Red

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

Water Needs: Average, moderately drought tolerant when established

Soil Type: Clay, Loam, Sandy, Silty (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, Heat Tolerant, Insect Resistant, Sun Tolerant

Description

A must for collectors, Purple Ghost Japanese Maple is dark purple beauty that in our opinion is the best of the best of the “ghost maples.” Depending on the sun exposure in its location, new growth in spring will emerge lavender to dark purple with reddish highlights, with deeper color in more sun that changes to a greenish purple hue in the summer. New growth in late summer emerges a deeper purple color then turning to a stunning purple red in fall. What’s more, the reticulated leaves often appear ruffled around the edges adding to the overall appeal. A relatively fast grower, you can expect Purple Ghost to achieve a height of around 10 to 12 feet in as many years with a width of around 10 feet.

Landscape & Garden Uses

To showcase its magnificence and beauty, the Purple Ghost 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, in larger landscape spaces they can be grouped or useful when positioned on both sides of an entryway to accentuate the entrance.

Suggested Spacing: At least 15 feet 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 it’s 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. They are very easy to grow in the ground or in containers.

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, you can find a complete listing of our sun-tolerant Japanese Maple varieties here, of which Purple Ghost 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 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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