General Culture:

Easily grown in moist, organically rich, well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Performs well in bright, sun-dappled, part shade locations. Avoid hot and dry sites. Site in locations protected from strong winds.

Noteworthy Characteristics:

Japanese maple is a multi-stemmed shrub or single-stemmed small tree that typically grows to 10-25’ tall. General plant form is rounded to broad-rounded, often with low-branching. ‘Scolopendrifolium’ is an upright form that typically grows to 12-15’ tall. It is sometimes commonly called fingerleaf maple or strapleaf maple in reference to its distinctive, deeply cut leaves which have a soft, airy appearance. Each palmate leaf (to 5” long) is divided into 5 extremely narrow (to 1/2” wide), pointed-at-the-tip, fingerlike lobes. Leaves are medium green with light red petioles. Leaves turn yellow in fall. Small reddish-purple flowers in spring are somewhat attractive on close inspection, but are not showy from a distance. Flowers are followed by seeds that ripen an attractive red. ‘Linearilobum’ and ‘Shinobuga oka’ are synonymous with this cultivar.