This Japanese Maple is forty-five plus years old. My sister-in-law was here one year and tore out my old shrubs. I wasn't happy about it at the time and my wife knew it. But after tearing out the shrubs she planted a tiny Japanese Maple.
It didn't do a lot for some time, as this variety was slow growing, but eventually it became a centerpiece in our front yard. We both swore every year in the spring that it was dead, but it would always come back. The last day I saw my wife alive I was pushing her in her wheelchair to the car to take her to the airport so she could visit her family in California. She looked at the tree and told me it was definitely dead.Unfortunately, she never saw it bloom again. And it has kept on blooming and growing year after year.
My neighbor has a yard that could definitely go on Better Homes and Gardens. She is shocked by the way it grows. She asked what I did to to it. Nothing. Seriously. I have never pruned it or fertilized it or anything. I pull the weeds around it and mulch every few years.
That's it.
My grandson and I just bought 2 different varieties for out back. One is by our largest pond and one I currently have growing in a pot by the deck pond. I have a picture in another post.
The new ones are doing pretty good after 2 years. In about a month, we'll be planting and cleaning up if this Ohio weather cooperates. I'll get some new pictures when things bloom again.