Japanese maples were subjects of much poetry and art in seventh-century Japan. However, both world wars took a toll on the numerous collections of these trees, which were often used as firewood. By the end of the 1940s many cultivars had disappeared. However, in the 1960s there was a resurgence of interest and since then over 320 varieties of Japanese maple have been developed from remaining native trees. The Japanese maple is adaptable to different types of soil, but prefers slightly acidic soil. They thrive in sandy and clayey soils with a low content of organic material. They usually have a shallow, fibrous root system to begin with, so uniform watering and mulching is required for a few years to get the tree established. To avoid competition for water and nutrients, keep the area under the tree well weeded. Acer palmatum has many different varieties that have different colors, leaf shapes and growth habits. The tree openly pollinates, meaning that seeds from a specific cultivar will not be an exact clone of the parent tree. For this reason the propagation f...