Glowing Embers Japanese Maple
shines bright in late autumn
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Glowing Embers Japanese Maple lives up to its name, glowing bright on a sunny November afternoon in the J. Frank Schmidt Jr. Arboretum in Boring.

Glowing Embers Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Glowing Embers') is a superior green Japanese Maple selection for the South, and an outstanding performer in more northern latitudes as well. Coloring later than most of the A. palmatum cultivars, it glows orange to orange-red after the others have defoliated.

Selected by Dr. Michael Dirr for outstanding fall color, heat tolerance and vigorous growth in Southern climates, this delicate-looking Japanese maple handles the heat of summer with style.

Calling it “one of the best green leaf types,” Dirr states that Glowing Embers has “displayed terrific heat and drought stress tolerance. It develops scintillating red-orange-red-orange-red fall coloration that ebbs and flows, like the tides, throughout the fall season. Color is brilliant and consistent from year to year.”

Dirr has long observed and admired the parent tree, located on the University of Georgia campus at Athens, where it was planted more than 25 years ago. Foliage is typical of Green Japanese Maples, except that the leaves are a little more refined and deeply cut. This upright, spreading tree grows to a height of about 20 feet and spread of 24 feet. Hardiness is USDA Zone 5.

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