Momiji Faux Acer Stem | Japanese Maple

The leaves sit in the top third. The rest is bare stem.

The proportion is the thing to understand. Roughly the top 40cm carries foliage and the lower 65cm is bare branch, which is exactly how an acer grows and why it looks right. It also means you can cut a long way up before you start losing leaves.

In a tall vase of 35cm to 45cm, use it close to full length. The bare stem disappears into the vessel and the foliage floats above it, which is the arrangement this stem is designed for.

On a console, cut it down so the finished arrangement stands about one and a half times the height of the vessel.

Allow for the spread. The branches reach outward rather than upward, so it occupies more width than the stem suggests. Do not put it somewhere people pass closely.

It is caught mid-turn, which is a harder thing to make than either end of the season.

Most faux acer is either uniformly green or uniformly scarlet, and both look like a decision. This one has soft green leaves flushing through coral to dusty rose, with individual leaves at different stages and some carrying both colours at once. That is what an acer actually looks like in early October, and it is the reason the plant is grown.

The leaves are finely cut, five to seven pointed lobes with serrated edges, thin and papery rather than thick and moulded. Acer foliage is delicate in life, and a heavy leaf would give it away immediately.

The branching is open and horizontal, with side shoots spreading outward in the layered way a Japanese maple grows. Most faux stems branch upward because it is easier to pack; this one does not, and it makes a considerable difference.

The palette is quieter than autumn usually is. Soft green, coral and rose rather than orange and scarlet, so it sits with warm neutrals and pale timber instead of shouting the season at the room.

• Caught mid-turn, green flushing to coral rather than one flat colour
• Finely cut star-shaped leaves, thin and papery like the real thing
• Open horizontal branching, layered the way a Japanese maple grows
• A quieter autumn palette, coral and rose rather than orange and scarlet
• 105cm long, with the foliage held in the top third
• Bendable wire core, so the branches can be opened out
• Works past October, since the green is still doing half the work
• No watering, no drop, no light needed

The delicacy is the point. Two stems in a tall vase, angled apart so the branches interlace, is the arrangement. Five would look like a hedge and lose everything that makes it good.

Bend the side shoots out and slightly down rather than letting them stand upright. An acer holds its foliage in layers, and that horizontal spread is the shape people recognise.

Fine foliage against a busy wallpaper or a patterned wall disappears. Plain paint, ideally a shade deeper than the leaves, so the outline of each leaf reads.

Our burgundy ninebark stem at 120cm and this at 105cm make a good pair in one tall vessel, dark and light at slightly different heights.

Soft green and coral against a cream or stone glaze reads properly. A dark vessel swallows the delicacy of the leaf colour.

Dust with a hairdryer on cool rather than a cloth. Fine acer leaves are thin and closely spaced, and a cloth will catch and bend them where moving air will not.

Handle the foliage gently. These leaves are deliberately delicate, which is what makes them convincing and also what makes them easier to crease than a thick moulded leaf.

Do not stand it in water. If your vessel holds water for real stems, keep this one dry.

Cut with secateurs, not scissors. There is wire inside the stem, and household scissors will neither cut it cleanly nor survive.

Keep it out of strong direct sun. The coral and rose tones will fade faster than the green, which would leave the stem looking uniformly green within a couple of years.

What to expect. The branches travel folded and will need opening out after unpacking. Bend the side shoots outward and slightly down, and take a few minutes over it.

It ships as a long parcel with the branches folded, and will need opening out after unpacking. Current timescales and charges are set out on our delivery page.

Not sure how many stems you need, or what vessel suits? Send us the measurements and we will tell you. Reach us via our contact page or live chat.

If it is not right, our returns process is straightforward, and everything is covered by our guarantees and warranties.

Our price match promise stands if you find the same piece for less elsewhere. Dressing a holiday let or a showhome? Ask about trade accounts.