A finely textured maple with fernlike leaves and a brilliant fall finale that turns heads from down the street
FEATURES:
- Deeply cut, fernlike foliage for a soft, layered texture all season
- Graceful, rounded ornamental canopy that works beautifully in smaller landscapes
- Fresh green spring and summer color that plays well with both evergreens and perennials
- Excellent specimen tree for front yards, patios, and garden focal points
- Adds light shade without feeling heavy or overpowering
- Fall color in orange to scarlet red for a dramatic seasonal finish
- Hand Selected; Fresh from the Grower
- Ships on our trucks because the size of the tree - does not fit in a box.
Bower & Branch Landscape Design Tip:
Fine foliage reads best when you don’t surround it with more fine foliage. Pair this with a few broad-leaf companions, hydrangea, hosta, or large-leaf evergreens, and the fernlike canopy will look even more dramatic by contrast.
Growth Facts
- Hardiness Zone: 4-7
- Mature Height: 8-12' tall
- Mature Width: 15' wide
- Exposure: Full Sun/Part Shade
- Spacing: 12-15' apart
Fernleaf Full Moon Maple
Bower & Branch Trees and Plants
Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium'
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A finely textured maple with fernlike leaves and a brilliant fall finale that turns heads from down the street
FEATURES:
- Deeply cut, fernlike foliage for a soft, layered texture all season
- Graceful, rounded ornamental canopy that works beautifully in smaller landscapes
- Fresh green spring and summer color that plays well with both evergreens and perennials
- Excellent specimen tree for front yards, patios, and garden focal points
- Adds light shade without feeling heavy or overpowering
- Fall color in orange to scarlet red for a dramatic seasonal finish
- Hand Selected; Fresh from the Grower
- Ships on our trucks because the size of the tree - does not fit in a box.
Bower & Branch Landscape Design Tip:
Fine foliage reads best when you don’t surround it with more fine foliage. Pair this with a few broad-leaf companions, hydrangea, hosta, or large-leaf evergreens, and the fernlike canopy will look even more dramatic by contrast.
Growth Facts
- Hardiness Zone: 4-7
- Mature Height: 8-12' tall
- Mature Width: 15' wide
- Exposure: Full Sun/Part Shade
- Spacing: 12-15' apart
Why plant Fernleaf Full Moon Maple?
If autumn color is your passion, then this is the tree for you! Fernleaf Full Moon Maple will give you fall fireworks each year. During spring and summer, its soft green leaves are beautiful, too—deeply cut and heavily lobed, like feathery fingers. But fall is when it takes your breath away. Plants in sunnier sites will turn a blazing scarlet color, while in a bit more shade, you’ll get a mix of red, orange, purple, and gold. Site Fernleaf Full Moon Maple where the morning sun can shine through the foliage, and it will glow like stained glass! Magical.
Full Moon Maple, native to Japan, Manchuria, and Korea, is similar to the species known as Japanese Maple, but there are some differences. Full Moon Maple is less tolerant of hot weather than Japanese Maple, and its branches are stiffer and coarser. It gets its name from its rounded leaves. This cut-leaved variety was introduced to the public in 1888 by Parsons Nursery of Flushing, New York. It may have already existed in Japan before then, however, because it also has a Japanese name, Maiku Jaku, which means “Dancing Peacock.”
How to use Fernleaf Full Moon Maple in the landscape?
Fernleaf Full Moon Maple flowers are underrated! They dangle below the downy-soft, newly emerging leaves like tiny red bells, the bright yellow stamens poking out from the bottom. You won’t notice them from a distance, but up close, they’re precious! Put a bench under your tree so you can sit down and appreciate them at close range.
Planting Zones
Hardiness Zone: 4-7
How To Plant Fernleaf Full Moon Maple
Fernleaf Full Moon Maple is happiest in moderate climates where winters are neither too frigid, nor summers too hot and steamy. It appreciates some shade from the afternoon sun. Wind protection is advisable in sites exposed to freezing winter winds. Fernleaf Full Moon Maple isn’t fussy about soil, as long as it isn’t wet. Like most Maple Trees, it does occasionally fall prey to verticillium wilt, a fungal disease present in some soils. The disease is more likely to attack stressed trees, and proper cultural care is the best means of defense against it.
How To Water
Once you have found the perfect location to plant your Japanese Maple, it will appreciate regular water during the first few years in the ground. Be sure to keep it watered throughout dry spells until it has become established in your garden.
How To Prune
Pruning is rarely needed on the Fernleaf Full Moon Maple but in the case that it is, it is best to do so when full dormant.
Frequently Asked Questions
This maple has small, inconspicuous spring flowers. It’s grown primarily for its distinctive fernlike foliage and outstanding fall color.
Full sun to part shade works well. In warmer climates, a bit of afternoon shade can help keep foliage looking its best through summer while still delivering great fall color.
Prune lightly in late winter while dormant to remove dead or crossing branches. Avoid heavy pruning during the growing season, and keep cuts minimal to preserve the tree’s natural branching and shape.
