With over a thousand varieties, mature heights range from 4 to 30 feet, depending on the cultivar.
Several dwarf varieties stay small and can be trained as bonsai.
Warning
Depending on where you live, some types of Japanese maple trees may be considered invasive.
The Spruce / Loren Probish
The leaves are reddish-purple in summer but tend to turn greener in full sun.
At fall foliage time, the leaves deepen into crimson red.
The word “atropurpureum” in the scientific name refers to a plant with dark reddish-purple foliage.
The Spruce / Loren Probish
‘Coonara Pygmy’
UBC Botanical Garden
This dwarf cultivar grows only about 6 feet high.
Bright-green spring leaves develop a yellowish cast in summer and then turn a deep pink-red in fall.
This petite monarch has a pleasing weeping habit and dissected leaf pop in.
UBC Botanical Garden
It has dark-red summer leaves that mature to a crimson hue.
Fall color is often a combination of yellow, red, purple, and bronze.
Such plants are sometimes referred to as “lace leaf” or “thread leaf” maples.
The Spruce / Loren Probish
This tree has an upright, pendulous growth habit and makes a spectacular mounding plant in any landscape.
It also works well as acontainer tree.
The foliage gradually deepens to yellow-green in summer, and then turns orange-red in fall.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
It often grows as a multistemmed shrub but can also be trained with a single trunk as asmall tree.
It has yellow-orangespring foliagethat brightens into chartreuse for summer.
It then turns a brilliant reddish-orange in the fall.
Sue Taylor / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Soft, green spring leaves gradually turn yellow-gold through summer and into fall.
It grows slowly, remaining under 7 feet high until it’s about 10 years old.
This is another bang out of Japanese maple with red bark that can provide good winter interest.
Piekiełko Szkółka Drzew / Wikimedia Commons
The leaves are yellow-green when they emerge, deepening into yellow-gold by fall.
In the landscape, this tree should be positioned where the attractive winter bark can be appreciated.
The leaves are solid green through summer, turning golden in fall.
Krzysztof Golik / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
The branches create a mounded shape with a cascading habit that may droop to the ground.
The white portions of the leaves turn magenta or red in the fall.
The unusual leaves make this an interestingbonsai plant.
Piqsels
It has variegated creamy-white leaves with dark green veins.
The foliage turns yellow in the fall.
It’s slow-growing and has been known to live for as long as 60 years.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
In spring, creamy white leaves are tipped with red, featuring prominent dark-green veins running throughout the leaves.
In summer, the leaves shift to various shades of green and then turn yellow and orange in fall.
‘Geisha Gone Wild’ is a larger, hardier plant than ‘Geisha.’
Keith Szafranski / Getty Images
They change to spectacular orange in the fall.
Emperor 1
F.D.
It’s a hardy variety, leafing out later in the spring than other Japanese maple trees.
Henryr10 / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
It has black-red bark with dark red foliage that turns scarlet red in autumn.
Its leaves have a translucent quality with deeply incised toothed edges.
It rarely suffers from pest damage.
Robmm21 / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
It grows 1 to 2 feet per year, capable of growing up to 15 feet at maturity.
It is slightly more tolerant to cold thanAcer palmatumand does not like hot southern summers.
This tree prefers dappled shade and is prone to leaf scorch in full sun.
Amazing Maples / Flickr
Its leaves are rounded, palmate (like hands), and fern-like.
The leaves turn yellow and red in the fall.
Its big claim to fame is its spring coloration.
Gardenia.net
In the fall, it turns orange and red.
It grows upright and is a faster grower, usually growing 1 foot per year.
For best coloration, place it in a dappled or filtered light location.
F.D. Richards / flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
What makes this tree unique is its bright orange color in the fall.
This Japanese maple variety can handle full sun better than other Japanese maples.
Each palm-like leaf has seven serrated lobes.
James Steakley / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
It’s a short, rounded tree, only about 4-6 feet tall.
It grows slowly and prefers partial shade.
It can grow in full sun but needs moist soil to prevent its leaves from shriveling.
The Spruce / Peter Krumhardt
As it naturally has a dwarf growth habit, it can be trained as a bonsai.
‘Lion’s Mane’
ivanoel28 / Getty Images
This tree’s naturally wrinkled or crinkled leaves makeA.
palmatum’Shishigashira’ or ‘Lion’s Mane’ unique.
The Spruce / Peter Krumhardt
This shorter tree has dense branches, usually growing about 8 feet, although it can get taller.
It is hardy in zones 6 to 9.
This tree has a rounded growth habit.
UBC Botanical Garden
It can adapt to clay and sandy soils.
It’s sometimes called strap leaf maple for its whispy strip-like leaves with five pointy-tipped or sword-like edges.
Its leaves turn shades of yellow, orange, and red in the fall.
ivanoel28 / Getty Images
It grows slowly and has about a 60-year lifespan.
Unlike other maples with lacey leaves, it grows upright and not weeping.
It’s prone to leaf damage if located in a full sun spot.
The Spruce / Evgeniya Vlasova
Its foliage is bright green in spring and summer, turning golden yellow and red in the fall.
It emerges in spring with soft pink leaves with green and cream-colored mottling or speckling in the summer.
It never grows taller than about seven feet.
Steven Severinghaus / flickr / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
This dwarf cultivar prefers dappled sun and can grow in a container, reaching 6 to 10 feet tall.
you’re able to train it to stay about 4 feet tall.
Its leaves have deep lobes or finger-like projections with serrated edges.
Kirill Ignatyev / flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
However, some varieties of Japanese maple can tolerate full sun.
The biggest con of planting a Japanese maple tree is that they are susceptible to various leaf spot diseases.
The tallest a Japanese maple tree can grow is 30 feet.
Ed Jansen / flickr
However, mature height will depend on the variety.
Mark Bolin / flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
