Hi all, We have quite an extensive garden bed that was designed in our front yard (typical Vancouver low-maintenance mixes with a hedge of pieris and spirea). We also have a young katsura tree in a centre bed, an awesome weeping caragana plus some really, really big existing cedars in the corner. Anyway, we're trying to figure out our back yard where there's only a small bed with some nishiki willows (so cool, by the way!) and our neighbours big pine trees. I want to plant a medium japanese maple (emperor?) for a splash of color but I want to plant a second tree beside it to give a bit of contrast in terms of foliage and maybe something a little smaller or bigger in height but equally not-so-dense...? Can anybody suggest a good specimen tree or even an alternative pair to do away with the maple idea? I'm open to anything... Thanks!!
Might like to see a photo sometime. With Japanese maple, and a few others, there is a fine line between "contrast" and "conflict".
Plant a green Japanese maple of similar habit and vigor for color contrast with the purple-leaf one. Hope you have enough room for all this stuff, particularly the Katsura tree.
sorry i guess my explanation wasn't very clear, especially without a picture. the katsura, caragana, cedars are all in the front, not of concern with the area in question. so in the picture i've attached, ALL of the existing fruit trees you see in the background are going to be removed (diseased) so all that will be left is that one bed. probably throw a shed in the area by the brown fence. there is another ~15ft of lawn to the left which you don't see. so i'd like to put in a red japanese maple for that color effect but i'd like some other things with height as well. overkill? any ideas for other cool colorful plants to put in a new bed or in that existing one (ps. - there is a 2nd willow there and those grasses are probably going to be moved out). thanks again *picture removed*
