Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Description:

This unique cultivar leafs out purple in spring, with lime-green variegation; matures to green-red with cream variegation during summer, but turns bright orange to scarlet in fall; perfect for borders, rock gardens, or as a landscape accent

Ornamental Features

Beni Shi En Japanese Maple is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It has attractive creamy white-variegated green foliage with hints of red which emerges purple in spring. The small twisted lobed palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of orange and red in the fall. It produces red samaras from early to mid fall. The rough gray bark and red branches add an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Beni Shi En Japanese Maple is an open deciduous tree with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned in summer after the leaves have fully developed, as it may 'bleed' sap if pruned in late winter or early spring. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Beni Shi En Japanese Maple is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting

Planting & Growing

Beni Shi En Japanese Maple will grow to be about 12 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.

This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution, and will benefit from being planted in a relatively sheltered location. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

This plant is not reliably hardy in our region, and certain restrictions may apply; contact the store for more information.