Once Japanese maples and the tree lilac come into leaf, ‘Merrill’ and ‘Royal Star’ magnolias are not visible from the sunroom. Fortunately, this is after the magnolias have faded from bloom, and now, nine Japanese maples dominate the view.

Two white flowered clematis (Clematis ‘Henryi’) have fully recovered from ill treatment when neighboring shrubs were ripped out a few years ago. Today, both grow vigorously, supported by branches of the yellow-leafed ‘Moonrise’ Japanese maple (Acer shirasawanum ‘Moonrise’) and a neighboring obelisk. I expect the clematis will fade into the background as the maple leafs fully.

After the renovation of this area was done in preparation for construction of the sunroom, I was uncertain if the clematis that reappeared would be white or purple flowered, since both scrambled up a tall nandina (Nandina domestica). The first flowers a year ago confirmed that both are the white ‘Henryi’ and that the purple ‘Jackmanii’ disappeared. The contrast of yellow leaves and purple flowers would have been more striking.

I expect that ‘Moonrise’ will take a leap in growth this spring. I was happy with its progress a year ago, and this year it should grow enough to elicit complaints from my wife that the view is obstructed. It is the ideal tree for this spot, no matter that a small area of the garden will be obscured in a few years.

I’m surprised that the variegated leaf ‘Butterfly’ maple (Acer palmatum ‘Butterfly’, above) across the path does not have many dead interior branches. The maple was pruned severely by the grower so that it is shrub-like, and inevitably the density results in small dead branches. But, not yet, and my purpose in buying the bushy maple was to make an immediate impact, which it has. The interior branches could be thinned with some difficulty, or I can wait for branches to fade as they are shaded.

On the opposite side of the sunroom, the Wheel Tree (Trochodendron arailiodes) was removed after a year long decline. The ‘Golden Shadows’ Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia ‘Golden Shadows’, above) has gained enough size that it will begin to fill the area, also partially obstructing the view.  The Wheel Tree was replaced with one of the handful of mahonias recently added, ‘Groovy Glow’. Its foliage is nicely textured and I expect to be able to enjoy the yellow, winter flowers from indoors when it’s too chilly to stroll the garden.