i have had several small potted JM's for 5 years. every summer they get scorched leaves due to sun and heat. even when i had them under the east facing porch with morning sun. JM's are usually slow growing. you may want to check out the Shantung/Fire Dragon maples over at Metro Maple or do a search for them here. Lou has a few of them, very nice specimens. i believe he's in z8 also.

i'm not sure about the Weeping Redbug.

A typical shantung maple will get taller than 12 feet.

Out of curiosity, did you consider either the European (e.g.: Velvet Clock) or for that matter the American Smoke Bush/Tree? Hopefully fairly tolerant of a hot climate, some purple-leaved options, not real tall (at least the European), etc...

Richard.

I like the look of the Velvet cloak, so we'll put that one on our list. BTW, we did some digging in the yard over the weekend and the hardness of the clay soil makes us feel like we're chopping rock. But then, they haven't had rain for three weeks in the area.

Richard, Metro Maples will be soon selling a shantung maple called Super Dragon that has bright yellow leaves. It is supposed to stay small. It can handle full sun just fine.

Function, are you talking about Traveller Redbud? It looks pretty cool. It will handle sun during hot weather much better than Japanese maples. Houston is right about JMs getting scorched in a lot of sun even on the east side of house, trees.

Traveller is a cool looking plant but I would be concerned that it might not be large enough for that location. Not sure of its ultimate size. Another option might be a weeping blue atlas cedar if there is enough sun and moisture. There is also a weeping Kaki persimmon that might look good there.

David