For artistic effect, many Japanese maple bonsai trees have an upright informal habit featuring a trunk that is either contorted, multi-stemmed or slanted. Related: The 17 Best Outdoor Planters.

When buying a Japanese maple, it is best to visit a nursery or garden centre to choose the individual plant that suits you best. Sometimes cultivars, such as ‘Atropurpureum’ and ‘Bloodgood’, are grown ...

These rules, as Terry helpfully outlines, also apply to bonsai forms of Japanese maple trees. 'Full sun situations, or climates that are hot and dry, are not ideal for these plants,' Terry adds.

Bloodgood Japanese maples make a nice focal point in the garden border and will even thrive as a bright woodland plant. This tree is sometimes trained as a bonsai specimen.

“Japanese maples are actually really, really good for bonsai because they tend to be more of a diminutive tree to begin with,” says Steve Pettis, commercial and consumer horticulture agent for ...