Metro Maples is located in Ft Worth and has a lot of experiences growing Japanese Maple. I would go with Fireglow as long as it gets some shade from afternoon sun. I don't think they'll be able to tolerate that much sun in the afternoon. Green ones are usually the most sun tolerant but they still would benefit some shade from hot afternoon sun in the summer esp when it gets very hot.

If you have room somewhere in front of the bed, I strongly suggest you plant a shade tree to provide afternoon shade for JM in the future. You could try 'Fire Dragon' shantung maple that can tolerate full sun and it provides red fall color as well. That's what I'm doing, planting a lot of 'Fire Dragon' and other culitvars around the house then eventually plant some Japanese maples between them.

This is from Metro Maples website -

Most Sun Tolerant - Upright: Acer palmatum, Sango Kaku, Seiryu, Omureyama, Osakasuki

Most Sun Tolerant - Dissectums: Tamukeyama

Most Sun Tolerant - Dwarfs: Shishigashira, Mikawa yatsubusa, Coonora Pygmy

Most Drought Tolerant: Acer palamtum, Sango Kaku

Here is a link that might be useful: Metro Maples

Hey thanks a bunch! I am going to go check the place out tomorrow! Great INFO!

Having searched for this exact question (is emperor I or bloodgood better?) you will come up with a lot of opinions, but no definite answer. Emperor I is hailed as an improved Bloodgood with better heat tolerance and leaf color retention, however this seems to have never been definitively proven. The major difference appears to be the later leaf emergence on Emperor I in the spring, so it is probably better in areas in which there is a risk for a late frost.

Almost all Japanese maples will develop a bit a leaf burn in the summer in warm climates when they are in full sun. My bloodgoods always develop a bit of leaf burn, however it is not very noticeable except when up close.

My fireglow gets virtually no sunburn at all, which is actually quite amazing for a Japanese maple. That being said it is about 15 years old, compared to the bloodgoods which are probably only 10 years old.

I agree with many of the cultivars on the list above and have: Shishigashira, Mikawa yatsubusa, sango kaku, butterfly, seiryu and regular green palmatum maples. These are all very sun/heat tolerant, but will all develop a bit of leaf burn by the end of the summer.

Hope this helps.

-Brett

Flightkid- Metro Maples is open only on Saturday 8am-2pm. Rest of time is by appt only. He's pretty busy trying to maintain 15,000+ trees by himself and his ONE worker all week long. It's a lot of work for 2 people.

I'm in austin and find that Beni Kawa and Seiryu has been the best performers. Just make sure you put them on the East side of your house or under high shade.