Why I Oughta...

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

I have been spending some time tool'ing around the Conifer Kingdom website recently as I try to think about adding dwarf conifers to our garden this season.  I have a full post that I should do that details a bunch of what I've found interesting (so far), but there's one tree that (at this point) warranted a 'getting to know' post:  The North Light Dawn Redwood.  Or the 'Schirrmann’s Nordlicht' Dawn Redwood. Metasequoia glyptostroboides.  The Conifer Kingdom listing for the tree is here .   The guys over at Mr. Maple have the tree listed there , too.  And they do a good job with their description (screenshot below).  The image at the top of this post is also from Mr. Maple ( source ).   Here's how they talk about the Nordlicht Dawn Redwood: Via Mr. Maple What's not to like about what they say about the North Light Dawn Redwood.   It is a dwarf.   Has spectacular foliage. Compact habit. Winter interest. Award winning. Yes, please.  But, tell me about

This is the third and final Japanese Maple that I'm planting in our backyard that I bought online and had shipped from Mr. Maple.  This is another Acer palmatum, but it is different - and unique.  It is green, upright and has desiccated foliage.  Love all of those characteristics - and it appears that it is the *only* Japanese Maple that checks all three of those boxes .  The listing from Mr. Maple tells the full story : ‘Seiryu’ is a fantastic upright green dissectum Japanese maple. This Japanese maple tree is very unusual because it has amazing dissectum leaves yet it is a vigorous upright grower. In the early spring it leafs out with a lush bright green. The fall color of 'Seiryu' encompasses shades of light to deep scarlet red. This Japanese maple tree is a very vigorous grower and can grow up to 12-14 inches a year once it is established. The height of Seiryu can reach up to 20-22 ft over time. ‘Seiryu’ is unmatched in the acer world as a brilliant upright laceleaf. Se

Yesterday, I posted some photos and details of the first of three Japanese Maples that I bought from Mr. Maple - Acer palmatum 'Firefly' .    This post is about the second of three Japanese Maples from Mr. Maple - another Acer palmatum.  This one is part of the 'ghost series' - First Ghost.  This JM is larger than the Firefly tree - although both are in one-gallon containers.   Below are a few photos showing the First Ghost Japanese Maple one-gallon trees: Mr. Maple's description of First Ghost includes these details : 'First Ghost' is the first and one of the best of the Ghost series of Japanese maples. 'First Ghost' leafs out in the early spring with bright white to cream sharply divided leaves which are accented by deep green veining to the leaf on the inside while the outside of the leaf is edged in a red purple. Mid-summer this reticulated variegation on 'First Ghost' may fade to a dark green veining on a lighter green background. For be

A few days ago, I posted some photos showing off three Japanese Maples that I bought from Mr. Maple and they shipped out .  All three are small one-gallon trees and arrived in good shape.  The first one of these three trees that I planted is Acer palmatum 'Firefly'.  Below are some photos showing off the foliage of Firefly and you can quickly tell that this tree is a beauty.  Of note, the rootball wasn't totally filled out in the small one-gallon nursery container, so when I took it out, the soil and roots sort of 'fell part'.  I quickly packed it back together and stuck it in a five-dollar hole. Here's what Mr. Maple has to say about Firefly Japanese Maple : 'Firefly' is a Japanese maple with superb reticulated variegation. The deep lime green veining, along with a brighter fiery red spring color distinguish this variegated selection by Paul Holden of Harstein Island Nursery. The habit is fairly upright , with less spreading than other ghost type varieg

A couple of days ago, I posted about how I planted an unknown Japanese Maple that I bought from the orange big box store .  I know, I know.  But...it was just something I did.  That is the fourth Japanese Maple in our backyard, but it also was the 'gateway' to even more.  My research into what that tree could be turned into a lost few days digging around the Web.  In terms of numbers....This Spring (2023), I've now planted three Japanese Maple trees - a small Emperor 1 , that unknown red laceleaf upright and this small, low-grafted Waterfall Japanese Maple .   Doing the research about those three Japanese Maples on the Web lead me to a new (to me) place:  Mr. Maple.  Their site is MrMaple.com  where they sell a huge variety of Japanese Maples in 1-gallon nursery containers.   The guys at Mr. Maple make it easy to sort by growing zone (I'm 5b), sun-exposure, species (Acer palmatum, Acer japonicum and Acer shirasawanum, etc) and habit (upright vs. weeping vs. columnar vs