Acer palmatum 'Uncle Ghost' Japanese Maple

'Uncle Ghost' is a reticulated variegated Japanese maple with intensely colored spring foliage that emerges pink to peach, marked by lime-green veins that create a striking two-tone "ghost-like" pattern across the leaf; the foliage shifts to cream tones as the season progresses and turns orange to red in fall. The cultivar develops a semi-pendulous, upright habit with darker branching that contrasts with the foliage, reaching approximately 6 feet in height and width over ten years and growing more slowly than many other maples. According to the growers at Mr Maple, this cultivar was discovered by Talon Buck Holtz in 1995 as a sport at Buck Holtz Nursery in Gaston, Oregon, and became one of the original members of the celebrated Ghost series. It performs best with afternoon shade protection in hot climates, though it can thrive in full sun in cooler regions, and it is valued for producing some of the most intense foliage colors within the Ghost series despite being less widely available due to lower scion production.