Why I Oughta...

A reader posted a comment on my pos t from May about the troubles the Arctic Jade Korean Maple was having and how it wasn't leaf'ing out .  They asked, not about the Arctic Jade, but about my first Korean Maple:  The Northern Glow.   My journey with Korean Maples started back in Summer 2024 when I first posted  this "Getting to Know" post about the tree after seeing it at The Growing Place in Naperville.  I planted it in July 2024 in the Island Bed in the middle of the Summer.   That is tough on any plant, but I think harder on ornamental maples that naturally want to be in part sun/dappled shade/full shade.  I ended up erecting a shade-cloth structure to help get the tree through July and August without getting scorched that first Summer.  Here, below, is a photo from August 2024 showing the size of the tree and the shade cloth that I had set up: Here is a post from late August that shows the state of the Island Bed .  (It was t...

Over the break, I found myself watching this Toronto Raptors/Kawhi Leonard 'Return' and Ring Ceremony video on YouTube and that lead me down a rabbit hole of 'return' video tributes.  There's a bunch of Derrick Rose coming back to Chicago clips and there are other things like this King Felix steps off the mound for the last time in Seattle video .  And there's this Mariano Rivera All-Star Game entrance video - which might be the best tribute out there.  He trots in to his "Enter Sandman" intro music and the diamond is empty.  Standing there to a full team and stadium standing ovation he takes it all in.  Pretty awesome. But, on that journey down video lane, I also came across this video that I've embedded above showing Michael Jordan returning (for the last time) in 2003 to the United Center as a Washington Wizard.  Lots to like about this (including how they did a sweet little fake out with the "From North Carolina, at 6' 6...