Gardening is back! Springtime ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ Japanese maple #gardening #garden #springtime

When we go visit nurseries, we often ask the nurserymen and women, “What is your favorite Japanese maple? ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ is definitely the most popular answer. When the North American Branch of the Maple Society started the Maple of the Year Program, ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ won the first award.

‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ is a tightly layering dwarf green Japanese maple. In the spring, the leaves are bright chartreuse green with a red sheath to the petiole. This makes this dwarf with a layering shingle-like habit extremely beautiful. ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ is extremely slow growing and difficult to propagate. Fall color on ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ is a bright fiery red in the fall color. ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ may reach 4-5 ft in 15 years. ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ is extremely heat tolerant and overall, a very hardy tree. ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ is great for container plants, small places in the garden, fairy gardens, and conifer troughs.

We have an extremely old ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ at my uncle’s home at Hill Stone Arboretum which serves as one of our display gardens. It is one of the largest ‘Mikawa yatsubusa’ that I know of.

Acer palmatum 'Mikawa yatsubusa' Dwarf Japanese Maple