Japanese Maples- characteristics of a favorite!

In a different life, I was responsible for quite a big operation – lots of people and a fair bit of value. Of course, I did not manage this all by myself, I had great help from a very capable, diverse team. Now most teams have an individual who acts as a moderator/influencer , a conduit to allow issues to be aired for discussion – we were fortunate to have someone play this role.

Early in the genesis of my team, the moderator suggested that I favored one individual over other team members and would I like to comment on this?

Acer kandy kitchen – the latest addition to the Japanese garden

Most people would have probably just denied this suggestion and perhaps moderated their behavior for a short while just to get the issue to go away. However, I thought about this for a second or two and realized this was too good an opportunity to miss. My response was that I did not have favorites on the team, valuing people as individuals……… but I could see why some members of the team came to that conclusion. I cannot help myself in that I am drawn to people with certain characteristics – like those that #17 displayed – great work ethic; intelligent, developer of people; a team player who delivered results but was cognizant of “the how” being as important as “the what”; didn’t play games putting the company ahead of personal aspirations ; a value set that defines ”good human beings”. The moderator took the message back to the team – slightly different from what was anticipated!

The ability to characterize is a useful tool that I have employed in a number of settings. In the garden I have used it in design to make sure that the elements both CP and I appreciated were incorporated in AndAllen.

Japanese maples have been favorites of ours for many years, but only went ”big” on them towards the end of our time at the Ridge garden.They have many terrific characteristics. They are all season plants – vibrant color as buds burst; all shades of green and red when in full leaf; fabulous range of autumn color; diverse leaf texture ; varied form – tall,weeping,dwarf,columnar,flat – exagerated in winter once leaves have dropped.