Wednesday, February 27, 2008

More Signs of Spring

Okay, so it's really just a shameless ploy to show you all a picture of my (sort of) new Coral bark maple.

Look at that colour! Is that incredible or is that incredible. And no, I did NOT Photoshop that picture. That is the way this baby comes.

I saw a larger version of this tree in the garden nursery last fall and fell for it almost instantly. There it stood in the tree area, stolid in its massive black pot, and spreading those brilliant red limbs in all directions. Impossible to ignore. I wanted it in my garden. Then, as is usual with these things, I glanced at the price tag: $1500. And yes, I do have the decimal in the right place. So I did my usual 'go home think about it for a day then discuss it ever so obliquely' routine with Richard. I think I must have been a bit too oblique, though, because he thought I was talking about the pine tree we had limbed last year.

Feeling sheepishly like FDPG when she mixes up her "wants" and "needs," I went back to the nursery and chatted with one of the nursery workers, who was very helpful and showed me the $28 pots of smaller Coral barks. She waxed eloquently about the lime green leaves that appear in the spring, tinged ever so slightly with red, the orange tinges the leaves take on in the fall, and then, finally, the amazingly red branches on display all winter. I hefted a pot, listened while it whispered sweet nothings in my ear, and knew I had to get that tree. I needed that tree. So I bought it. And there's a picture of it. Nice, eh?

1 comment:

Louise said...

Very nice indeed. You did get the $28 one though, didn't you! Just a few years to wait until it is grown up, like its bigger cousin? x