Blood Good in the Garden

Long Shadows in the Garden

I was going a little stir crazy with all the green from the hedge.  This year I put in a couple more Japanese Maples.  My first was a Lace Leaf, but these 2 are Blood Goods.  I love the color  it's added in the garden.  They play off the green so nicely, and look good with the greys, blues and yellows too.  These ones are from Boring Square Garden Center.  I've went to these guys, Karen and Gordon for years.  They're super nice and always have great prices.

In my adult life, I think I have always added Japanese Maples to just about every garden I've ever had.  They're relatively slow growing, but have a nice shape and are fun to play with.  Oh and the little leaves compost nicely or blow away, so minimize on the raking in the fall time.  I've mostly had the green J. Maples, but they just didn't seem appropriate here.

I love when the Japanese Maple start getting really bushy and a little crazy looking.  The new branches are always tender and can easily be pinched off.  So you can sculpt them and give them new shape.  If you take off some of the leaves and little branches on the interior of the tree, it brings in light.  I tend to go to extremes and even I have never messed one up by over doing it.


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