Acer griseum Paperbark Maple: Can it handle full sun zone 7?

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jhart Mar 30, 2009

I would love to have a Paperbark Maple in our backyard, but we only have full sun spots available. I live in zone 7, Richmond, Virginia. I have read on the internet that it can take part shade to full sun, but then see recommendations for part sun for the south, not sure how far south they are meaning though. I will keep it well watered. Any thoughts or experiences?

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Mar 31, 2009

I can't believe that you won't thoroughly enjoy having a paperbark maple in Richmond. Plant away, and monitor moisture through the hottest and driest periods you experience there.

There are wonderful big old specimens all around the mid-Atlantic and northeast US in zone 7 conditions. Yours shouldn't be significantly different.

If you are still harboring doubts, consider one of the hybrids available that has Acer griseum in the parentage. Gingerbread™ and 'Cinnamon Flake' are two that display hybrid vigor in growth and greater heat tolerance.

Better yet: plant them all.

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Resin Northumberland, United Kingdom(Zone 9a) Mar 31, 2009

Might be worth riging up some temporary part-shade for them in their first few years - something like a few bean poles with a bean or two growing up them, to the south side of the maples. Just to keep the worst of the mid-day sun off until they are well established.

Resin

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kman_blue (Zone 6b) Apr 01, 2009

Paperbark Maple actually does really well here in Kansas. It's one of the few, if not one of the only compound leaved Asian Maples to do well here. Mine was planted in mostly full sun, but now gets some shade from the West and a bit from the South. It still gets full sun during most of the day though. I've seen it planted in full sun(but with some wind protection from buildings or other plants) to very light part shade doing well around here also. We have periodic droughts between mid to late June and September here almost every year and some of the ones I've seen don't receive irrigation, but are still doing alright. We have between 40 and 80 days of 90ºF+(32.2ºC+) temperatures here every year, depending on the year, so there's plenty of heat here too. I'm also at just about the same latitude as you in Richmond, VA. So, I'd say they are quite heat and drought tolerant especially compared to their close relatives, but they'll do the best with some late day or light mid day shade and supplemental irrigation during droughts. Mulching the root zone well won't hurt either. Since you have full sun, I'd mulch the entire root zone well and keep the tree well watered. I think if you have surrounding buildings, trees, shrubs, etc. that will give the tree wind protection it'll do alright for you. But if you don't, then some sort of temporary shade like Resin suggested could help out a lot, especially when it's still young and not well established.

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