Oklahoma City is experiencing a ridiculously warm winter... so far. The Smoke-tree and the Japanese Maple did not even begin to color up until about two weeks ago. Almost all of the perennials have been a buttery golden yellow for a while. If they turn before they drop, the Barberry leaves will be a brilliant orange-red. The small fern behind the gray pot is an Autumn Fern and it will likely be evergreen.
The porch behind these pots is covered and faces south. It will serve as home for all the potted shrubs and perennials until early March... when they will return to the north side of the house. This winter potted plants include 3 Peonies, 4 Hostas, 4 Ferns, the Smoke-tree, the Japanese Maple, a Bottlebrush Buckeye, a dwarf Amur Maple, some Indian Pinks and a new form of Catmint.
The Saint Joseph's Lily puts on a wonderful show in late spring - early summer

'Sharp's Pygmy' is, perhaps, my favorite dwarf Japanese Maple. It was introduced to Oklahoma City gardeners in the mid-1990's and has grown very successfully here ever since. It is enormously popular with bonsai enthusiasts because its diminutive size, its somewhat windswept form and its small leaves [3-4.5 cm on older plants] lend it very well to this art-form. Based on specimens I have seen planted in the ground here and even further west on the Great Plains [Lawton, OK] I have to say they are as beautiful when allowed to develop naturally as they are when trained in a pot. The largest in-ground specimen I have seen here is about four feet across and three feet high.

My small tree was purchased as a one gallon plant early last spring. It has developed pretty well in one growing season and, being hardy to zone 5, will continue to grow in the gray pot you see for at least one more year.
J.D. Vertrees excellent book on Japanese Maples calls 'Sharp's Pygmy' an "outstanding" and a "remarkable" dwarf that "needs no pruning or training to give it a bonsai-like appearance."
With our constantly shifting weather, strong winds, clay soils, and alkaline water supplies we have to be careful about which Japanese Maples we recommend to gardeners. This little specimen grows quite well here and should be grown more widely.
I titled this entry "December 3" because my neighbors and I are very surprised to see fall foliage and Lantana blooms this late in the season. Come to think of it, however, one neighbor was able to harvest rose blooms for the Thanksgiving table.