It depends on where in WI you live. Some zone 5a, 5b or 4?

First of all, I'd consult either or both of two excellent books.

The first is by Michael A. Dirr and is titled: "Dirr's Hardy Trees and Shrubs." Mr. Dirr is the author of several excellent books - one of which is "Manual of Woody Landscape Plant", a much used reference source. He used to teach at the University of Illinois and is now teaching at the Universtiy of Georgia.

The second book is "Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates" by Nancy Rose, Don Selinger, and John Whitman.

Both are available through Amazon.com and/or your local public library.

In addition to the books, I'd also recommend contacting the folks at the Boerner Botanical Garden in Hales Corners, WI or better yet, the reference librarians at the Stirling Morton Library at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL.

The web site for the first is:

http://www.countyparks.com/horticulture/boerner/

and the web site for the second is:

http://www.mortonarb.org/

the link to the library is:

http://www.mortonarb.org/visitor_information/smlibrary/smlibrary.htm

By the way, Michael A. Dirr just published a book on Hydrangeas, which is available at amazon.com; other bookstores; and libraries. It's title is "Hydrangeas for American Gardens"

This season, I decided to add Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake' OAK-LEAF HYDRANGEA to our garden and give the same plant to a friend of ours. Our source for this variety is http://www.forestfarm.com/search/closeup.asp?PlantID=hyqu650

Hope you find this useful!

Bill

I want to thank all of you for you wonderful suggestions. I learn so much. I am in zone 4.
I was ready to pull my hair out and throught - LIGHTBULB Gardenweb!!!!!
Thanks a bunch my friends
Shelly

Zone 4, I don't think there are any unfortunately. I have heard Robinson's Red is the hardiest of all & MAY survive a zone 4 winter. The red dissectums like Crimson Queen, Ever Red etc. are hardy to zone 5 if you could provide a nice microclimate it MAY survive. Safer yet would to protect it from the elements like dumping a bunch of leaves & topping it with evergreen boughs. A lot of people will container grow them & store them up for winter & that way you can have any variety you want. To get alot more advice you could post this over on the maple forum. Their are alot of very knowledgable people over there that might have some suggestions.

This may sound crazy and the "experts" at the garden shop said it couldn't be done, but I have two Japanese Maples in very large plastic planters. I have done this for about 5 or 6 years now. I keep them on my north facing patio from early spring to just before the deep frreeze. I winter them in my garage near the overhead door which has some glass. The space recieves some house heat and gets down to about 32 F, but I bet they could take a lower temerature than that. They get a little water each month and when they begin to bud out they come again.

I realize the trees are likely to be stunted for size and will eventually croak, but I bought them for $70 on sale at Stiens, so I figure I got my moneys worth aready and it is all now bonus. I get a lot of compliments about the trees and folks ask about them as if they were some special variety.

To be fair to the garden store experts my wife is the real gardener in the family and she thought I was crazy and laughed when I suggested this little experiemt. She dosen't laugh anymore. Sometimes it pay to be ignorant of what can't be done ;)

Yes, try the A. p. 'Robinson's Red' Japanese Maple. I have had a 'Robinson's Red' in my garden for a couple of years now with no damage at all (last winter the tree survived -25°F). The tree is growing in a very exposed spot in my yard, too. I do have a 4' circle of chicken wire covered with burlap surrounding the tree, but there is no insulating material inside the burlap enclosure. The top of my tree is above the enclosure now so I will find out this year if I need to use the enclosure again next year. The tree should be established enough now (hopefully) to survive on its own.

You'll need to check Girard's web site to see if this tree is being offered this year. I think I paid $10.00 plus shipping for a tree approx. 1.5' to 2' tall. Girard's is the only nursery that offers this tree.

'Robinson's Red' is a seed-grown Japanese Maple, so there is some variability among the plants. I ordered a second tree for some friends and their tree is doing just fine, too.
Good luck,
Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Girard's Nursery

Hey Mike,
In your extreme zone stretching thread wasn't there someone that had several japanese maples growing in zone 4? I tried searching in the forums to find that thread & couldn't come up with it. If memory serves she was in zone 3/4 & was growing Shaina, Ukigumo, & several others. I remember these 2 cuz they stated that shaina reverted to bloodgood & commented on how fast ukigumo grew. Other than that my memory fails me. If you can find the thread it might help a little.
Outside of planting japanese maples you might try fagus sylvatica ansorgei. Looks like a red linearbolium type. Mike has 1 already planted & he can report on it's hardiness etc.

I'm not an expert on Jap. maple cold hardiness. In general, they are hardy here in Ohio, but in Jan. 1994, much of Ohio dipped down to -20 to -30, which I understand is a VERY rare thing here, but the "Bloodgoods" survived and I believe I was told many "Crimson Queens" did fairly well too... It was about -21F at my house and my Bloodgood had no dieback at all... and I know for a fact that many planted in more rural areas (that saw colder temps) also survived, because I remember seeing many in the 90's and still today that are 20ft. or taller and had to have been in the ground in 1994. I believe the Dirr manual states that "Bloodgood" is one of the hardiest.

In SE Michigan, most Bloodgoods survived the bad winter of 1993-94 when the temps went to an all time low of -27F. So yes it is one of the hardiest. Oshio Beni is also a very hardy variety, though more bronze than red and it "greens out" in the summer. Lovely fall color, rich orange red. Seiryu is an upright dissectum, green not red, but a really elegant plant, and I know of two larger ones here that had no dieback at all that winter. You are right to ask this though, because many selections of A. palmatum are NOT fully hardy even here in zone 5b.

In zone 4 try A. pseudosieboldianum and A. japonicum 'Aconitifolium' as excellent Asiatic maples for the colder garden (and for warmer ones as well).

I found the zone stretching thread. The japanese maples are listed under a posting 1/10/05.

Here is a link that might be useful: zone stretching

I have two Robinson Reds purchased from Girard Nurseries, Ohio. Both are doing quite well.
Location Northern WI -- south shore of Lake Superior.