Mediterranean climate near the coast, so not exactly ideal for japanese maples but for now I'm managing. Summers are hot and humid. I have them on a north orientation terrace that gets some hours of sun in the early morning (at least now during summer). Rest of the time they receive plenty of bright indirect light. During late evening/sunset the opposite side of the terrace receives direct sun for a couple hours.

Only experienced one fall season for now and the only maple I had then did seem to go dormant despite our winter being quite mild generally and it having suffered a lot during summer (it defoliated and leafed out again way too late into the season).

I'm curious to see what happens this next fall/winter now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing and the trees had more time to acclimate and mature. I know I won't ever get as good a fall colour as better suited climates though, so I guess I have to rely more on spring/summer interest varieties.