Question
I have been giving a little Japanese maple sapling.  It was grown from one of the seeds of the trees in my parents' yard by my sister. She didn't do anything special to it, that I'm aware of, but now it's in my care and I want it to flourish.  Right now it is in medium sized pot (six inch radius, seven inches deep) and the plant itself is a little over a foot tall with a trunk as wide as a penny.  There are a fair amount of full grown leaves that are light green (just like its parent plant), but they have brown and crispy tips.  

My question is:
How should I keep it?  It has been outside, but I live near D.C. and the weather is cooling.  Will the little plant survive our cold winters?  I can keep it indoors, but if I do, is the pot a good size?  How often should I water it?  What are it's light requirements?  Ultimately, my hope would be to add another of these delightful trees to my parents' yard.
My plant knowledge doesn't extend past keeping my ponytail palm and ming aralia happy and healthy, and I know NOTHING about trees.

Thanks!!!

Answer
Hi Chelsea,
Thanx for your question.  If it were me, I would want this little jewel outdoors where it can grow to its fullest, most beautiful potential.  I would plant it outdoors now.  Dig a hole a bit deeper than the depth of the sapling in the pot.  Gently remove the sapling from the pot and crumble up the dirt a bit so it won't be root bound.  Sometimes the root start to coil around the pot, loosening the soil will help the tree's roots grow normally.  Water the plant deeply and mulch it with a couple of inches of cypress mulch.  The plant does well in full sun and partial shade.  It will do fine in your winter.  Next spring, begin watering it if you don't get weekly rain and feed it with a balanced 12-12-12 fertilizer following the directions on the package.  I hope this helps.
Tom