Dappled Willow V2 - Budding in April 2020

Last Summer, we added a tree-form Dappled Willow (Hakuro Nishiki) to the south fenceline of our backyard after having one of the same trees in Elmhurst years ago.   Both Nat and I fell in love with this tree after buying it (the first time) on a total whim.  It is a lollipop-shaped tree with a single trunk and a festive, mop on top that grows these beautiful multi-colored whips of willow.  In the photo at the top of this post, you can see that it also puts off these little cone-like things that mark it's return to glory.  This tree is probably the furthest along of all the deciduous trees in our yard with the first leaves of green showing on some of the tips.

This was the most recent tree that I planted in our yard - the last one of 2019 and I'm happy that it is coming back to life after the first year in the ground.  Based on my previous experience, I'm thinking that I'm now out of the danger zone in terms of getting this tree to come back.