Emmit's Pumpkin (Acer japonicum 'Emmett's Pumpkin')

Another in my series of ‘What’s in a Name’: everything. Emmett’s Pumpkin seems to promise what is most prized: orange color with a twist: pumpkinisity; I’m thinking this leaf is going to be round and fat and gloriously orange, and in the fall it is, but the rest of the year, the color is way bland. I will need to study this plant outside before I give it two thumbs up.