Deshojo Japanese Maple. The is a Japanese cultivar which was introduced in 1965. The "shojo" of its cultivar name means "red-faced monkey" in Japanese! It has brilliant carmine red new growth in the spring which lasts for a few weeks and then turns green with a bronze edges for the summer. The fall color returns to a beautiful red. To me one of the most fascinating aspects of this selection is the spring color of the stems which is a translucent red. They appear to be red translucent glass. Absolutely fascinating! Even though it is not a dwarf cultivar, it is one of the more popular selections for bonsai. References report a height of 10', but ours have gotten much taller than this here in zone 8 where ours is at least 20 ft. It air layers quite easily, which makes it great for bonsai because one does not have to contend with a graft union to distract from the bonsai appearance. All of these are grown from air layers.
Zones 5-9
