A Tree Grows in Ancaster

I had to remove a dying tree last week, a mercy mission as it was on its last legs. It was a weeping caragana. After much shovelling, pushing, grabbing and shoving I decided to fix my chain saw and get the job done. Once repaired, the chain saw did it in a snap. I was satisfied, and the missing tree was not even noticeable in the place it stood among many other plantings. My hopes that it was over were dashed by my wife’s insistence that it be replaced ASAP.

After just a bit of thought, I decided to push for a Japanese Maple, we already have one we put in our back yard, and it was the tree in my front yard as I grew up. My wife readily agreed and off we went with trying to find an appropriate one.

I called a nearby garden centre and asked about them, and they told me I was in luck as they had a 30% off sale of Japanese Maples going on right now. I asked about the price range, knowing it was a dumb question but what the hell? The fellow on the phone told me they ranged from $20 to about $1,000. This was a bit daunting and I asked about what was normal. He explained we should be able to find a good, healthy one for about $250 - $300 and we’d get 30% off of that. Doing the math, it came to $175 to $210.

I called the little garden centre across the road from themm that seems to be owned and operated by an old German guy who has been there for ages, and I asked him. He said they had really nice healthy ones for $135. I didn’t need to get a discount at this point; I just went to the little guy across the road and bought the full retail, beautiful 5’ high one for $135.
To this we added a bag of triple mix which must weigh 150 pounds, and off we went. I put the tree in place and we looked at it for the afternoon. The next day we dug the hole, poured in the tree and the triple mix and we have a tree.

It’s beautiful and will grow to be more so over time. I felt fulfilled.