Firefly Japanese Maple - Winter Dieback - Spring Color - May 2024
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCCTNCBeEtGAKhAGXyn1buMrSG3MfmB240TR4wYPFnDPwEEjM9_z1SOfPzrjj6JC3aL8BZY0hdPM2FRzvbgRr2keOrKT7NWz7hYTUJ4GHOehFg8hGjA820DSmM6xTfjqV8-KdId4iuVSzZ4TAOIsL_OOo8l62I2jP9DvEPk6WydRRdMVyBmDlb2NEKA/w640-h482/PXL_20240520_123345551.MP.jpg)
Last year (2023), I bought three one-gallon Japanese Maples from Mr. Maple and planted them in mostly-shade spots in our backyard . Of the three, two of them died back almost all the way to the graft. One of them had a lot of die-back at the top, but re-emerged this Spring with enough foliage to consider it 'alive'. That one - that survived the best - is the Firefly Japanese Maple. Acer plamatum 'Firefly' . Firefly has what is known as 'reticulated variegation' and that's showing this Spring. See below for a couple of photos: In that second photo, you can see the dead stems that rise above the foliage. I'd say that more than HALF of the tree died-back, but based on the foliage, this CERTAINLY is NOT the grafted rootstock producing leaves. This *is* Firefly. I can't say the same thing for the Seriyu and First Ghost Japanese Maples from Mr. Maple dot com . Despite giving them 'Five dollar holes', baby'ing them with water and see