Dwarf Japanese Maples

These adorably compact Japanese maples bring color and texture to the garden.

By: Felicia Feaster

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Dwarf Japanese Maple

Dwarf Japanese maples are slow-growing, compact trees that grow to about 3 to 8 feet in height, depending on the cultivar. They tend to have small leaves, short internodes and profuse branching.

'Shirazz' Japanese Maple

During spring, 'Shirazz' delights with bright pink foliage that turns green with creamy pink edges throughout summer. This Japanese maple is in it for the long haul—it can live 60 years or longer!

'Coonara Pygmy' Japanese Maple

'Coonara Pygmy' features ever-changing leaves that emerge in the spring pale pink and green. Once summer arrives, the Japanese maple sheds the pink hues before turning a bright orange-yellow with splashes of red in fall. This tree requires full sun to partial shade.

'Beni Shidare Tri-Colour' Japanese Maple

'Beni Shidare Tri-Colour' takes on a weeping form, featuring deeply divided red, green and white leaves that turn orange in fall. This tree requires partial shade with protection from the wind to prevent leaf scorch.

'Pendulum Julian' Japanese Maple

'Pendulum Julian' features delicate, doubly-serrated leaves that emerge green with brown highlights in spring. During summer the leaves turn burgundy before putting on a rich red color in fall.

'Viridis' Japanese Maple

'Viridis' features bright green, lacey foliage that forms an elegant dome shape over time. It is a beautiful bright-orange in the fall, with golden yellow undertones and crimson highlights, that transitions into bright green throughout the summer. This maple is the most vigorous of the green laceleaf maples.

'Pink Ballerina' Japanese Maple

'Pink Ballerina' is a super rare specimen with pink and red foliage and dissected leaves.

'Beni Schichihenge' Japanese Maple

'Beni Schichihenge' is a rare specimen that shines in spring with multi-colored foliage. It features green leaves edged in pure white with bright pink borders.

'Orangeola' Japanese Maple

'Orangeola' is a fast-growing Japanese maple showing off stunning orange leaves in spring and fall. During summer, the leaves fade to hues of red and green.

'Red Dragon' Japanese Maple

'Red Dragon' features deeply-dissected purple leaves that turn bright apple-red in the fall. Its slow growth habit and size, maturing at 7 to 8 feet, makes this tree perfect for containers.

'Chishio' Japanese Maple

'Chishio', also known as 'Chishio Improved or 'Shishio Improved', emerges in early spring with a mix of bronze and pink foliage, blue-green foliage in summer and orange-red foliage in fall.

'Deshojo' Japanese Maple

'Deshojo' features salmon-red foliage in the spring, turning green in summer and orange-scarlet in fall. It lends itself well to container living.

'Shishigashira' Japanese Maple

'Shishigashira' features solid green foliage throughout the summer and purple-red foliage with orange hues in fall. It's good for containers or small gardens.

'Crimson Princess' Japanese Maple

'Crimson Princess' features lacey, bright red foliage in spring that doesn't fade in the heat of the summer. In fall, the leaves turn orange.

'Crimson Queen' Japanese Maple

'Crimson Queen' features delicate, weeping foliage and holds its beautiful crimson color throughout summer.

'Summer Gold' Japanese Maple

'Summer Gold' emerges a light green color in the spring before, as its name suggests, displaying a beautiful golden yellow color throughout the summer, even through hot weather.

'Little Princess' Japanese Maple

'Little Princess' features bright, apple-green leaves edged in red in the spring, turning yellow in fall. This tree is ideal for small gardens and containers.

'Shaina' Japanese Maple

'Shaina' features bright red foliage in the spring that matures to a deep maroon-red in summer. It has a freely branching growth habit that becomes dense with maturity.