Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: small maples, 4 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
The replacement issue is entirely one we all have to think about. There is the time issue, and then there is the cost. I hear you.

But one thing I learned is not to entirely trust even a great website like Forest Farm and the brilliance of Michael Dirr. I put in five 5 gallon Lanarth\'s from Forest Farm - I think you have a pretty good idea how much that cost! Here are three of them in September of 2006. They were tremendous for privacy and trespassing. Except kids hid behind them and moved my rocks around. I realized, with the loss, that perhaps they were too good for privacy.

I actually replaced them with two extremely pretty and long blooming roses that grew horizontally. The second pic is the same location as the first. The virtue of this rose is that it is horrible thorny and was even better for trespassing - the thorns will rip your ankles off, which eliminated the trespassing and mild vandalism, the rose blooms April to November, has a fabulous scent and is zone 4 hardy. That 2 roses - The arbor in the rear and the Knockouts belong to my neighbor. Heck of a lot cheaper.

The other two doublefiles were replaced by a single rose - David Austin\'s first - Constance Spry, on the left. It\'s huge - that is one rose. It mounds high and wide, is zone four hardy. That\'s ONE rose. And it got that big in three years. The three roses cost less than a single doublefile.

The good thing about this is that, after I gnashed my teeth about the loss of my lovely shrubs, I realized that a loss can sometimes be a gain.

I also learned that, if in doubt, go cheap!!!

I got three Viburnum plicatum tomentosum \'Pink Beauty\' from Plant and Gnome for $10 each with $10 shipping for all three. $40 bucks! OK! He was concerned about one of them, so sent me a fourth smaller one, which caught up to the other three.

Here they are on arrival in April of 2013 (picture 4).

I put them far enough apart so that they would EVENTUALLY grow together. Here, in the last picture, are two of them this fall. A little more than two years later.

I love them, and if I lost them, at least it won\'t cost me hundreds of dollars, and I can get them and bring them up to size again.

But there is NO WAY I would put in an expensive and demonstratively delicate tree like acer griseum in your situation. I do hope you can find something that brings you the satisfaction you are seeking, and perhaps someone else can be more helpful without, however inadvertently, dredging up unpleasant memories.

Donna