Prunus royal burgundy in containers

Hi everyone. I've just bought four Prunus Serrulata Royal Burgundy about nine feet tall. The idea is to use them to replace the Japanese maple I have as centrepieces in four small gardens. But I can't transplant the maples until they are dormant.
In the meantime, I need to look after the prunus.
My question is whether I could keep them in containers, larger than the ones they arrived in, for a few months until October or November.
Also, could I keep the prunus permanently in containers, on the patio, if I change my mind and decide to leave the acers where they are?
The prunus is, I believe, fast growing and with a maximum height of about twenty feet.It could not grow that tall, and correspondingly wide, in a container; so what, I wonder, would happen to it in a few years' time if it was left in a container? I'd be grateful for any advice.Photo included. Cheers, Laurence

 

Hiya Laurence
Yes to containers until the autumn....keep well watered
No to permanent planting in containers....
This is a vigorous, fast growing and big tree....needs space in the open ground
Ok, similar colour to purple jap maples but so dfferent in every other respect

 

Hi Verdun, Thanks for replying.
I omitted to mention that the Prunus I ordered was meant to be about 6 feet tall, but for the same price they sent ones that were 9 or 10 feet tall. Apparently they'd run out of the smaller ones.
My intention was to keep the 6 foot Prunus in pots for a few years with the option of replacing the Acers with them.The uploaded photo shows a Prunus next to an Acer centrepiece in one of the four small gardens. I really don't think, now that they are here and are so big, that I can replace a slow-growing small coral bark Acer with a fast-growing large Prunus in a small garden..
Since there's nowhere else to put them, apart from in containers, I have a problem.
So, I'd be grateful if you could elaborate on why they can't be kept permanently in containers, given that garden centres sell very large ones.
Note, too, that the photo shows the Prunus in a relatively very small pot, or so it seems to me, in fact quite surprisingly small.
Is it that the Prunus has a spreading rather than deepening root system, so can't be kept in pots? What, though, if I tried root pruning? What would happen, come to think of it, if I cut a few feet off the top of the Prunus? Answering my own question, I suppose I'd lose next year's flower display and spoil the shape of the tree.
I may have to give them away, in which case I'll ask on this forum if anybody wants them. But I'll wait until I hear about why exactly they are unsuited to container growing. Perhaps I could keep them in containers at least until next Spring, so that we'd see the flowers. Thanks again, Laurence

 

Here's an update. I've just found out that Silk Tree Nurseries, UK, graft Prunus Royal Burgundy onto a dwarf rootstock, the resulting cherry tree growing, or so they claim, to between six and seven feet. If only I'd known that a few weeks ago. Such is gardening. Cheers, Laurence

 

Ah! That will make a difference laurence

 

Thanks Verdun. They are out of stock at the moment, but hopefully not for long. Thanks again. Cheers, Laurence