Sensu (Acer shirasewanum 'Sensu')Sensu (Acer shirasewanum 'Sensu')
Sensu is one of the new shirasewanums that have a more divided leaf thought to be perhaps a cross with palmatum. Green in the summer, it is outstanding in the fall as this photo from Winch shows.
Ogurayama, as you can see, is a small round-headed tree; the leaves have a sort of gold cast in the summer, and altho this photo doesn’t catch it, there is a lot of gold in the fall color. The leaves are a little more oblong and somewhat larger than Sode no Uchi.
This parent of ‘Aureum’ has almost round leaves generally with 11 lobes. The tree is very slow growing to 30′ (and bigger for your grandchildren) . Although the branching is awkward when young, mature plants have broad round crowns of fresh green leaves. The fall color is orange to purple. zone 6
This is the new black in garden styles. Better than ‘Aureum’ as it can take some sun, it also has some pink and orange in the leaves. Whew! Hard to beat! Zone 5.
One of the most prized of the ”Japanese” maples, but one of the hardest to get. Somewhat difficult to propagate, it grows slowly and burns in the sun because of the golden foliage, but worth the trouble in a filtered-sun location.
If your garden (estate) has room for a Sugar Maple, this would be a good choice. The deeply divided lobes give the tree a graceful lacy look in summer and lovely orange color in fall. Zone 3.
Sugar Maples are known for their hardiness and fall color, but how about this one for a great shape, esp if you are short on horizontal space and long on vertical. zone 4