dwarf jpm's in mostly shade zone 6b.

Welcome Toliverg. ?? What is a jpm - Japanese maple?

That was a good guess @bonehead. I couldn't figure that one out!

toliverg, but we do need to know a bit more specifically where you are located to recommend any plants.

Just the zone designation only tells us how cold it gets in your average winter. City, state, province, country would all help. eg. Salt Lake City (where I used to live) is zone 6 but their dry air and alkaline soil makes it nigh on impossible to grow a Japanese maple.

Is a jpm a Japanese maple?

I think many of these little trees do not like direct wind, so a sheltered area is best, maybe east side or a little offset of your house, ect.

I find Japanese maples to be pretty tough, and most of them prefer some shade, although I have some in full sun which are thriving. I think most are also hardy to zone 5, although they do prefer soil on the acidic side. My sister was pleasantly surprised to nurse a couple rather sickly and small Japanese maples in her zone 4 or 5 alkaline yard, both doing quite well after a couple seasons of TLC. We have a cousin who collects Japanese maples, and he regularly passes on his scratch-n-dents to us -- all but a small handful have been successfully rescued. I'd go to a reputable nursery in your area, which should carry trees that will thrive for you. Good luck, they are quite lovely trees - so many different colors and forms to choose from.

I have a five-year-old Orangeola in a container where it should stay around six feet. Think they get up to 10 feet when in ground. This one gets morning sun and, by August the foliage has fried, but it keeps coming back. Also survived losing one of the three main branches when a 25-foot Cedar Elm limb fell on it last September. I bet it would do well in a mostly shaded area.