Acer Orange Lace - Japanese Maple

The Acer palmatum Orange Lace, known by its cultivar name 'Sonkoot9', is a Japanese Maple of dissectum type, which develops a beautiful laciniate foliage, very finely cut. It starts spring in golden orange before turning to light green in summer. In autumn, it takes on a more vivid orange hue, mixed with red and gold. This elegant modestly growing bush is densely branched, with a narrow and erect habit, featuring a bright green bark, ornamental in winter after leaf fall. Place it in light shade, protected from cold winds and sun during the hottest hours. Planted in the ground or in a large pot, this small maple uniquely animates a Japanese or exotic style garden, or a contemporary terrace.

The Acer palmatum Dissectum is native to eastern China, Korea, and Japan. Like all maples, it belongs to the aceraceous family. This 'Orange Lace' cultivar stands out for its intensely cut foliage in very thin segments and its evolving colours. It is a small deciduous, hardy tree, with fairly slow growth. It develops a trunk covered with a quite decorative bright green bark. It supports a rounded to spreading crown, quite sparse, supported by flexible and thin, trailing branches. Eventually, it will reach about 2 m in height and 1.50 m in spread, depending on the growing conditions. Its laciniate foliage is composed of palmate leaves, measuring 5 to 8 cm long, deeply cut into 5 to 7 finely chiseled lobes and strongly toothed at the edges. Their colour changes from golden yellow to spring orange, to light green in summer, then to golden, red, and vivid orange in autumn before falling. The reddish flowers grouped in small clusters in April are insignificant, but the red fruits with curved wings, 3 cm long, are interesting from September onwards.

The Acer palmatum Orange Lace is ideal as a singular specimen on a lawn or in heather soil beds alongside azaleas, pieris, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and heathers. It can also be grown in a beautiful pot on a terrace or as a bonsai in a shallow dish. Despite its delicate appearance, this small tree is hardy and prefers a light, well-drained soil, not too poor, acidic to slightly alkaline, and occasional watering in dry weather. Diseases, such as Verticillium wilt, are more likely to occur in constantly wet soils rather than intermittently dry ones.