Twombly’s Red Sentinel Japanese Maple is an unusually columnar form of acer palmatum. A sport of the red-leaved ‘Bloodgood’, this highly ornamental tree works well in narrow spaces or as a corner accent.

My husband bought a rather large specimen during a trip to Oregon (which safely made the trip crammed in the back of our SUV!). After much hemming and hawing, I finally planted this beautiful, nearly mature tree underneath the canopy of our giant blue atlas cedar. I initially stuck it in the lawn just to get it in the ground but eventually extended a planting bed to surround it.

Twombly’s Red Sentinel growth rate is slow and the mature size is much less than it’s parent ‘Bloodgood’ form, so should work well as an understory tree without much pruning or other maintenance. So far it has weathered root competition from the Cedar with aplomb, but I do provide it supplemental water during the dry summer months.