SooBee, you might want to check out Ride Road Nursery in Bellview, Iowa. I think he has some oriental maples..

Diann
IA Z5a

Here is a link that might be useful: Ridge Road Nursery

SooBee,
I'd suspect you're looking at Amur maples,which freely seed all over the place (they are a pest in my woods), and form thickets along some of the roadsides here in town that right now are glowing red and orange. I grow Japanese maples here in 5a Iowa City, and met somebody who had a whole yard full of them in a protected spot in Waterloo, but I don't think you'd see any just driving around NW Iowa. In a protected spot you could probably grow a Bloodgood derived type of Japanese maple (Bloodgood, Robinson's red, maybe Emperor) but those types don't really have the most colorful Fall foliage.A better bet would be Acer pseudosieboldiana,the Korean maple, which has better Fall color and is hardy in Z4, (Ridge Road I think carries it) or stop by here and I'll give you as many Amurs as you can dig.
Don

Guess I should show a Japanese maple in its Fall color: this is Oshi-Beni. It's almost as bright red in the Spring too.
Don

Here is a link that might be useful:

**I'd suspect you're looking at Amur maples,which freely seed all over the place (they are a pest in my woods), and form thickets along some of the roadsides here in town that right now are glowing red and orange**

Hmmm..well, these WERE planted right up next to two different houses--clearly they were *ornamental* plantings. But, you never know! Maybe they *were* amurs. I'll look into the Korean maples for now...thanks for the information! (I haven't been to Iowa City in a year, but lived there from '79--'84. I'll take you up on the amur offer if I'm heading that way some day. :-)

not sure of the cultivar but we have had a japanese maple here in zone 5 for 4 years and seems to be doing great

I hope you don't mind a "Minnesotan" barging in on this thread?

Here is a picture of my Acer pseudosieboldianum in fall color. This tree is usually orange rather than red. This tree is completely hardy here in Minneapolis (Northern edge of zone 4a).

Acer pseudosieboldianum 10-29-04

{{gwi:1002190}}

Mike

**Here is a picture of my Acer pseudosieboldianum in fall color.**

What a gorgeous tree! Are those leaves as variegated as they appear in the picture?

Thanks, all, for the advice, btw. I've bought two amur maples ('embers' and 'flame') and have planted them in the front yard. If the rabbits allow them to live, it should be lovely there, soon....

SooBee,
Yes, the leaves look in-person exactly like they do in the picture. This tree has normal green leaves during the growing season, but the leaves had a wonderful mix of colors this fall. I love the effect of the dark orange center and the light orange edge that the leaves showed this fall.
Mike

Hey, just wanted to let you all know that there's a great sale on the tree under discussion-Acer pseudosieboldianum--till January 31st, at Magic Maples. You get a large, aproximately 4 foot tree for 10% PLUS free shipping. Since it's in a 2-gallon pot, and coming from California, that's quite a savings on freight. Here's the link:

http://www.mountainmaples.com/WS4D_Cookie=1.21.05_08,35,31_19/*ws4d-db-query-Class_Quicksearch.ws4d?ClassNo=302

I've already ordered mine. :-)