Sunday, August 24, 2008

Shishigashira - The Lion's Mane


We haven't even moved yet, and the gardening has started. Our local garden centre has it's annual 40% off sale today, and we drove over to find a Japanese Maple for the new house. We have three Japanese Maples at the current Anchovy World Headquarters, and we're really fond of all of them.

It was tough to make a decision, as there are so many fantastic varieties available. We settled on Shishigashira, the lion's head or lion's mane. It is an upright grower with dense tufts of crinkled deep green foliage on each branch, looking somewhat like the mane of a lion. It tends to be one of the latest Japanese maples to colour in the fall, when it turns golden and red.

6 comments:

Gardenia said...

Sounds pretty - can't wait for pictures after it is established!

Barbara Bruederlin said...

Those are gorgeous - so green and the crinkliness is intriguing.

Anonymous said...

it must be spectacular in the autumn

Candy Minx said...

Oh thats wonderful. I remember when your dad recommended Japanese maple for your garden. We were thinkig about your dad on the weekend. We ate at a place he had eaten at in the past. The place has remained the same and I got pretty choked up thinking about your dad there. It was a real old school restaurant with excelelent German and Polish food items and all other kinds of stuff. We had some friend green tomatoes, cole slaw, and stuff.

I am so excited to hear about the move and see some more pictures and see your new place in person!

mister anchovy said...

My father talked about that place all the time. He ate there once, and it must have really resonated with him. I recall the day he picked out the red Japanese Maple. It fit in my car. Now it is maybe 12-15 feet high. We're going to try to propagate that one from the keys. Tuffy has been researching. I spent a chunk of the weekend packing up my studio. You know how studios attract serious quantities of stuff. Mine is no exception.

sp said...

Beautiful variety. How very exciting to start a new garden.