Shin Deshojo and Crimson Queen
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Good friends and Japanese maples go hand in hand. When I first returned to Washington from Pennsylvania in 2016, my long-term friends from the Ravenna area in Seattle and I took a stroll in the Washington Arboretum to see the spring highlights. We walked through the Japanese maple area and saw a beautiful pinkish red maple displaying its brilliant spring color. I asked if they knew what it was. They said that it was a Shin Deshojo and that they had one in their garden. It was one of their favorites. I knew that I really wanted to add one to my new home. I searched around and could not find one in our Eastern Washington area. A year later they came to visit and said they had a little surprise for me. As they drove up, I saw a beautiful little tree in the bed of their truck. It was their beautiful little Shin Deshojo in its broken pot. In needed to be replanted and thought my new garden would just be the right place. It became one of the maples that started the foundation of what is now our Heatherwood Japanese garden.
Today it gracefully displays its form and color next to our house along with other Japanese maples and dogwoods. The trouble is that even though it adds to the beauty of the garden, it is difficult to get a clear photograph of the tree by itself. Below is an image of its beautiful leaves.
Shin Deshojo Emerging Spring Leaves
The image in the top header is of our second Shin Deshojo that was added a couple of years later. It is planted more in the open and gets quite a bit more sun. We now have almost 100 Japanese maples in our garden. They range from established trees to small one-gallon starters. Every time I walk through our garden I think of our wonderful friends and our joint love of Japanese maples. Thank you Janet and Larry!