Acer palmatum Phoenix - Japanese Maple

The 'Phoenix' Japanese Maple is a spectacular variety thanks to its finely cut foliage with fiery colours all year round! It stands out with its fine, upright and dense branches that bear young stems with blood-red bark, adding a real asset to the garden in winter. Its deciduous leaves burst with a very bright reddish vermilion that temporarily turns light green in summer before taking on flamboyant shades of yellow-orange and red in autumn. With its small size, it is well suited for small spaces, especially in containers or as a border on a terrace. Hardy and more tolerant of heat and sun, simply plant it in well-drained and moist soil.

The Acer palmatum is native to eastern China, Korea, and Japan. Like all maples, it belongs to the aceraceae family. The 'Phoenix' cultivar stands out with its vibrant leaf and young stem colours. It is a small, hardy tree with slow growth, upright and bushy in habit, developing a thin and short trunk with a dense and branched crown. Eventually, it will reach a height of 3m (9 ft 10 in) with a spread of about 1.50m, depending on the growing conditions. Its deciduous foliage is composed of deeply cut palmate leaves with 7 to 9 distinct, narrow and long lobes, finely serrated along the edges. The insignificant flowers are grouped in small clusters in April and the fruits with red curved wings embellish the garden until they fall in autumn.

The 'Phoenix' Acer palmatum will be beautiful planted as a solitary tree on a shaded lawn or in ericaceous beds alongside azaleas, pieris, rhododendrons, hydrangeas, and heathers. It can also be trained into a beautiful bonsai. In a shaded flower bed, plant early-flowering bulbs, hellebores, hostas, and epimediums at its base. Despite its delicate appearance, this small tree is hardy, as evidenced by some specimens grown in large pots for many years. It only requires light and well-drained soil, not too poor, preferably acidic to neutral, and occasional watering during dry periods. Diseases like Verticillium (caused by a fungus) are more likely to develop in constantly moist soils than in intermittently dry ones. Note that this variety performs well in hot climates if the tree is placed away from the scorching sun and sheltered from the wind.