I purchased my first Japanese maple for the pond this weekend. It is a variety known as Crimson Queen. CQ is a mounding style maple which gets up to 6 feet tall and 8 feet around. I plan to keep it much smaller. I placed it near the weeping hemlocks of the left side of the pond. In summer it will be in the shade of the bradford pear tree in the morning and shaded by other trees late in the afternoon, so it will get some sun mid day. Once the bradford pear tree dies it will get more sun which is ok for this variety. The placement will help screen the neighbors house and pump once I move it. In winter when it loses its leaves the distant view is not too bad when viewing the waterfall straight on.
I took apart the right side of the falls to fix the leak this weekend and rebuilt it so water will more easily flow forward rather than seeking side outlets. I created a stepped look rather than a flat surface too, so hopefully once it has the black algae patina it will look more interesting than the large rock I had there before. It is supposed to rain today so I have covered it with plastic to keep the rain from affecting the mortar until fully dry.
Finished the bench this weekend finally. Also did some pruning around the yard and removal of dead plant material. Getting ready for spring, the pear and cherry trees are already starting to bloom slightly.
