New bush - do I need to stake this or support it somehow?

[penpotted]

The front one is an acer palmatum. Any ideas how I support this? Need to keep it in a pot until next year - will staking it be ok? I'm a complete novice 🙈

Beautiful shrub. I would say it doesn't need staking. This link has loads of good info on growing them www.rhs.org.uk/plants/popular/acer/japanese-maples/growing-guide

No, no need to stake at all, and will be fine in a pot (although if you have one a bit bigger I'd move it on a size or two).

Fab, thank you!

Are you growing it indoors or outdoors? If indoors, don't let it dry out. It'd prefer to be outdoors, but keep it away from cold winds.

If you put it in a decent pot, it should be fine for years really - I have Acers I've had in pots for years with no ill effects - one was in the same pot for about 15 years before the pot cracked.

Every year I scrape the compost I can off the top, put a load of slow release feed granules in, then top up with fresh compost - plus they get water feed in the summer. They'd get bigger in the ground, obviously, and I do have some planted out - but they do well in pots too.

They don't like the wind, so keep it in a sheltered spot and it will be fine.