Wayne, that is an excellent question - I saw them in my local nursery too and they were GORGEOUS! I was very tempted to buy one for the area where I am going to plant the Ohio Buckeye but in the end, the question about the hardiness and its smaller size made me back off.

Just FYI, when I talked with the local nursery lady, she said that she had one in a pot for years now. She had meant to plant it in the ground years ago but she never got round to doing so. She just left it in the pot, and then she put the whole thing in the ground over the past winters. Still, it came back year after year without problems! So that gave me some confidence.

If I had some more space, I probably would consider getting one as the leaves are just totally gorgeous.... yes, that would be my Japanese Maple substitute!

Hi, I had one at my old house for about 6 years. It grew slowly but steady. Definitely was a sheltered spot. Mine didn't get as much sun as it should (shaded by house, fences, etc.) but did okay. The reason I removed mine was another issue - chlorosis and yellowing of the leaves that seemed to repeat itself year after year (didn't like my clay soil even though to me it didn't seem that bad). I definitely would recommend and would try again. P.S. I had also bought one for my Mom and her yard. That one was much greener, but only survived two years for whatever reason.

Thanks for the replies, time will tell how they will do, I did read some where that they prefer acidic soils. I have ordered some granular sulfur for some rodo's and azaleas that I had purchased earlier but they look fine so far. The maples look slightly different from one another but the roots were also better on one. I imagine that they are grown from seed being multi-stemmed.