Two bird's nest spruces will join the front garden in some fashion to add some evergreen foliage to the mix of mostly deciduous plants. Bird's nest spruce or Picea abies 'nidiformis' is a slow growing evergreen that grows to 3 to 5 feet tall and about the same width. It's named for the rounded shape that seems to leave an indention in the middle, very similar to a nest. One of them was for my daughter who while we were perusing plants in the nursery area of the big box store said "I want a plant" and held up a liriope. Knowing that we had more than enough liriope I said, "how would you like a small tree?" Her grin told me how much she liked that idea! I was going to get two of them anyway, but it turned out to be a small reward for her bravery in the face of flu shots.
I also picked up a fringe flower (Loropetalum chinensis rubrum 'Blush'). I suspect that the blush is from it's fall color display since right now it's a beautiful shade of red-orange. It blooms in spring with string-like flowers similar to a Witch Hazel. It likes part sun and is hardy to zone 8. We are slightly colder than that (being zone 7-ish, who really knows?) but every now and then it's good to cheat the zones to test the cold tolerance of various plants. Needless to say it will have a very good layer of mulch around it before this weekend! It grows into a 4'-8' shrub. It may die back to the ground each year but hopefully we'll get a little more out of it. I'll position it close to the house near a paved surface of some kind.
The last find was my favorite, a Japanese Maple! This Suminagashi Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Sumi Nagashi') was nice to find at 50% off the original price. It's a skinny little tree right now but stands about 5 feet tall. It was a definite steal of a Japanese maple! It will one day grow to 25' x 15' but since Japanese maples are a slow growers it may take it some time. Speaking of time, now it's time to get them in the ground before the weekend hits, we have some cold nights ahead!
Update: I planted the Japanese Maple this morning!
