When I realized that today is Arbor Day, I just had to take some pictures of one of my favorite trees – Japanese Maple, “Garnet”. Garnet has lacy leaves that are bright red when they first emerge in the Spring and then again in the Fall. In between they are green with red stems. I’ve been shaping the specimen tree that we have for 12 years. It is about 4′ tall and 6′ across. I think that it will be a while before I see it at its mature height of 10′.  Garnet’s delicate countenance brings me pleasure whenever I work in the shade garden and I enjoy imagining its future size and shape every time I snip a little here and there. You know what they say, “to garden is to have hope for the future.”