Inaba Shidare Cutleaf Japanese Maple has attractive deep purple foliage throughout the season. The small deeply cut lobed palmate leaves are highly ornamental and turn an outstanding crimson in the fall. Inaba Shidare Cutleaf Japanese Maple is a dense deciduous tree with a strong central leader and a stunning habit of growth which features almost oriental horizontally-tiered branches. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which can make it a great accent feature on this basis alone. This is a relatively low maintenance tree, and should only be pruned in summer after the leaves have fully developed, as it may 'bleed' sap if pruned in late winter or early spring. Inaba Shidare Cutleaf Japanese Maple will grow to be about 8 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 8 feet. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for 60 years or more. This tree does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils.