Red Maple Bonsai

[thomasc96]

I'm new to bonsais and the red maple bonsai has been something i've always wanted to grow. Would anyone know where I could find a red maple bonsai in Sydney?

[TimS]

When you say red maple do you mean Canadian Red Maple (Acer rubrum) or a red leaf cultivar of Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum)?

Japanese maples will be available at any regular garden nursery, the Canadian maples should be there too. They will be grafted though so look for one with a good (not ugly) graft line

[gnichols]

Bonsai South used to have some mature red Japanese maple, atropurpereum probably. But not sure about recently.

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[thomasc96]

Thanks guys! I'm leaning more towards the acer platmatum

I'll add in Bonsai South to my next stop

[shibui]

There are many Japanese maple cultivars that have red leaves and another one that has red stems. There are none that are called red maple. That just seems to be a generic name that people who don't know Japanese maples use.
In general I have found the red leaf Japanese maples have long internodes so it is harder to get good shape and ramification as bonsai. The leaves are generally on the larger size which means going for larger sized trees if you really want it to look good.

Named cultivars are usually grafted. Grafts are often ugly so dedicated bonsai growers try to steer clear of grafted plants if possible.
Some seedlings from red leaf cultivars will also have red leaves but as seedlings have a new combination of genes the parent name cannot be used for seedlings as some unscrupulous sellers do.
Bonsai specialists are more likely to have ungrafted named varieties grown as layers or from cuttings but expect to pay a bit more because propagation takes longer and is more work.
If you just want a simple stick bonsai with red leaves they should suit fine but if you want a really good bonsai I'd steer clear of the red leaf Japanese maples.

Some red leaf JM cultivars:
Atropurpurea
Attraction
Bloodgood
Fireglow
Koriba
Beni Kagami
Burgundy Lace
and many, many more.
Note that not all those varieties above may be available in Australia