Group/Class:  Dissectum

Description:

This attractive true dwarf variety presents heavily dissected, bright green new foliage with chartreuse centers and veins; fall colors of bright yellow, vivid red, and rich orange appear all at once and persist; ideal for small garden spaces or containers

Ornamental Features

Fairy Lights Dwarf Japanese Maple is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It has attractive green foliage with chartreuse veins which emerges light green in spring. The deeply cut lobed palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of yellow, orange and red in the fall. The gray bark and dark red branches add an interesting dimension to the landscape.

Landscape Attributes

Fairy Lights Dwarf Japanese Maple is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, 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.

Fairy Lights Dwarf Japanese Maple is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Fairy Lights Dwarf Japanese Maple will grow to be about 4 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 80 years or more.

This shrub should be grown in a location with partial shade and which is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. This plant should not require much in the way of fertilizing once established, although it may appreciate a shot of general-purpose fertilizer from time to time early in the growing season. 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.

Fairy Lights Dwarf Japanese Maple makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.