Yes, at your very northerly location (latitude 50, right?) the sunlight, even in midsummer, is much less intense than in more southern zones. You should be able to grow pretty much any of the dissectums in full sun, much as I am able to here in the PNW. And I doubt supplying adequate moisture - which would be a qualifier, for sure - is much of a concern :-)

Certain of the red leafed varieties may bleach out a bit in summer and lose some of their redness and others you will find may intensify in color in more sunlight. All the greens will love it.

Heya Blue!

A few notes. First, they'll need a LOT of water, at regular intervals during the growing season. Almost every long-time JM grower and nurseryman has told me the #1 problem for JM's is not enough water to the entire root system.

Second, the smaller maple specimens may have leaf scorch no matter what amount of water you give them - at least early on(first 2-3 years). They simply don't have enough of a root system to supply the water they'll need during hot summer stretches.

Lastly, full sun is a relative term. If you mean 15 hours of direct sunlight a day, I'd guess they might have a pretty hard time, but if you mean like 8 hours a day, they should be fine.

You also may have more luck with Acer japonicum 'Green Cascade', a larger leaf Asian maple that has strong dissected leaves, a nice green color, weeping habit and diabolic fall colors.

Best of luck!

Will

Thanks gardengal & Will,
The reason I ask is over the years i have grown a few, but always struggled to get young plants established especially in my very acid sand and usually in competition with other plants (conifers!) so I guess somewhere along the way and as I suspected a lack of continuous moisture.
Also, I got mugged on another forum (GrowsonYou) for suggesting that many varieties could be grown successfully in full sun.

Having grown, sold and planted Japanese maples commercially, professionally and personally in the PNW for years and being familiar with your UK climate (British parents - many visits), I'm going to cordially disagree with firefighter :-) Parts of the PNW experience summer drought conditions that do require some specialized watering concerns to young JM's -- but far less than to those sufficiently established. And sun scorch is not a given regardless of the amount of sunlight received, provided adequate soil moisture is maintained. These plants are just a lot tougher and more adaptable than many give them credit for.

And full sun in Dorset, UK at that latitude is just not comparable to full sun at other, more southerly locations, including the Puget Sound area. These plants are able to grow in containers, in full sun, on gravel or asphalt nursery beds here without problems or leaf scorch provided they are kept sufficiently hydrated. Or at least my multiple decades of experience with them has proved this to be the case. btw, this included experiencing record high summer temperatures this past July.

Ahhaa! Sand may very well be the culprit :-) JM's prefer acidic but moisture retentive soils that still maintain good drainage. While providing excellent drainage, sandy soils tend not to provide sufficient moisture retention, in addition to lacking adequate organic matter to keep maples happy.

And FWIW, there are various listings available online of JM cultivars that are known to be extremely sun or heat tolerant. However most of these are generated in response to more arid and high summer heat locations.......the PNW or the UK do not fit these parameters and so the selections appropriate to full sun expand widely. Provided one can also provide the correct soil conditions :-)

I think we're along the same line of though gardengal, maples need moisture on a regular basis, and the best way is via a good soil base, a well drained, sandy-loam. Clay is a disaster, but straight sand can be bad also. These plants do use up a lot of water, but again, once established, most cultivars can do just fine out in full sun without supplemental watering.

Some maples are notorious sun-burners, and these are usually of the very light colored leaves, Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream', acer shirasawanum 'Auream' being the two that most come to mind. These will almost certainly burn in full sun.

As for dissectums, they actually seem to be more tolerant of sun then your standard JM, perhaps because they have less leaf surface area(which causes water loss).

Start with some good, rich, non-clay like soil, water regularly the first few years and then you should be great!

Will

That's very Interesting Will and I'm glad you raised that point. Wonder if gardengal agrees that the dissectums are generally more tolerant of full sun than the standard palmatums ?

I'm not sure about being more sun tolerant than 'standard' palmatums.....it would depend on the cultivar of the 'standard'. Some will be markedly less sun tolerant while others will be equally as tolerant. As Will indicates, those Asian maples with very pale chartreuse or golden foliage, like A.s 'Aureum' or those with reticulated foliage as well as any variegated cultivars tend to be less happy in full sun than do those with solid red or green leaves. But I doubt any of the dissectums will be overly bothered by it - at least with Dorset full sun :-)

I know very little. 'Seiryu' is a full sun one for my blistering hot climate.

Dax

Seiryu is one of the few 'upright' dissectum's. A great pic if you don't like the shrubby 'mushroom' look of many dissecutums. Great fall color too as well.

Dax & Will, certainly interested to know a few of the dissectums that take full sun, do you have a pic of 'Seiryu' ?
gardengal, sounds like you are almost familiar with 'Dorset sun' ? :0)

I'm a bit more familiar with Essex sun :-) But I doubt Dorset sun is all that different from either Essex or the Pacific Northwest. Here, a summer day that hits 80F (27C) is considered 'hot' and at 90F (32C), folks start complaining of heatstroke :0)

As stated previously, ALL the dissectums can be grown in full sun in my location and most of the red leafed forms maintain better color in lots of sun and all will develop better fall color in more sun than not. To the typical weeping laceleafs, I'd add 'Seiryu', 'Scolopendrifolium' 'Beni Otaki', 'Villa Taranto', 'Red Pygmy' and 'Linearlobum' - not necessarily dissectums but with very thread-like leaves (actually, any of the Group 5 cultivars will tolerate full sun well). And of course the fernleaf maples, Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium' and 'Green Cascade'. If you choose to go with non-dissected forms, you really broaden the possibilities for full sun.