I bought one from the Cedar Park Lowes. But from the research that I've done, I don't see anything wrong with your tree. In fact It's looking much better than my tree is. I had some major leaf burn when I went out of town for a week...

It has just recently budded out. And It looks like I'll be seeing some new leaves in the next few days. I'm trying some Protekt to see if I can limit the new growth leaf burn. Try a soil acidifier and if you need to fertilize use a root stimulator formula at half the reccomended dosage.

For help on growing these trees in texas check out MetroMaples.com

I've taken a look at their "Maples on the Move" blog to get some idea of what to do to help my tree grow in the Texas heat. It's where I got the Protekt and root stimulator ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: MetroMaples

Wow! Thanks for posting the link to Metro Maples. There's a ton of information there. Also, a huge selection of maples with pretty good prices. So far I've only found a local nursery that sells the high dollar JM's (like around $400). Find any good places in Austin? I'm out west in the Marble Falls area. Too bad Metro doesn't ship. I might have to drive up there someday.

What have you found out about this Lowes Tamukeyama? Is yours turning green? Do you think these are seedling grown? I think I might try moving mine closer to the edge of the porch to get more sun and closely monitor the leaves. I use to have it out in front of the porch where it got sun till early afternoon, but that's when I started noticing the leaf burn.

Named Japanese maples are not seedling grown.....or they shouldn't be :-) (There's some issues with a lot of 'seedling' Bloodgood's on the market - they are most likely just atropurpureums or the natural purple-leafed form of the species.) At any rate, a correct 'Tamukeyama' should be grafted and depending on the skill of the propagator, the graft may be nearly invisible. Greening of the foliage in midsummer can be attributed to too much shade - Tamukeyama holds its color very well in sun but in hot southern climates, may bronze out a bit. Dappled or filtered sun most of the day, if you can manage it, would prevent scorching or use the product redrhodes mentions.

As to having suspicions as to this being a correct 'Tamukeyama', the foliage looks pretty good for that cultivar but purchasing any named J. maple from a box store rather than a reputable nursery runs the risk of mislabelling as well as inferior selections mass-propagated for this cheaper market.

I just joined and read the message about the maple purchased at Lowe's. I have been in the nursery industry for longer than I care to mention, as well as other fields. It is my experience that there is a good chance you didn't get a Tamukeyama as I visited a Lowe's here in the Pacific Northwest this spring and found numerous maples mismatched with labels. Another hardware store in the Seattle area had several mixups on the labeling of Japanese maples. Face it, these places are not nurseries but just mass marketers of plants and plants are not merchandise. I have a nice Tamukeyama and it never goes to the green, not unless it is too shaded. The heat in Texas is a problem and perhaps it is too shaded. One thing about nurseries in general, an incredible amount of nursery stock is shipped from Oregon to all parts of the country and most of these nurseries employ unskilled migratory workers and any amount of mixups can occur considering the staff. I have seen this first hand
and it's regrettable but happens daily. Check with the book on Japanese maples by J.D. Vertrees, umpteen forms are listed. www.greergardens.com is a good reference as well, this is a nursery in Eugene, Oregon. Send an E-mail directly from that site to Harold for any questions.

flatland2d,

Also check at the soil line, there are still a decent amount of nurseries that bud Acer palmatum cultivars. It is fairly common that some well known/popular japanese maples have become "mixed" in the trade. Just because you bought it in a box store does not mean it is not the correct cultivar.
Questions...is it a balled&burlap plant in a container?? (the first year leafing out, it may not hold its color well). Is it an over-sized, container grown plant?? (a stressed plant may not hold it's color well also). There are a lot of over grown japanese maples on the market currently...there are other reasons that your plant may not he staying the color you expect.

Schmoo

PS."most of these nurseries employ unskilled migratory workers and any amount of mixups can occur considering the staff"
phtmltascp...my, your quite the experienced nursery "bigot"