And the chosen tree award goes to,..

A variegated Norway Maple!

On Saturday, we went on over to our favorite garden center - Culver's (not to be confused with the fast food joint). They seem to have the best plants for the best prices (here read: not the cheapest but the best quality for the lowest prices). We went to finally get a tree for the front yard and for my Mother's Day gift. Thank you for all of your votes on the previous post of this matter. After seeing ornamental pear tree after ornamental pear tree and seeing the size and cost of the tulip magnolias we decided to forgo both of them.

I was thinking an elm (a dutch elm disease resistant one). Mike still favors maples. I wanted yellow color in the fall. There are so many red maples in our neighborhood, it really isn't funny. So, Mike watched the kids on the playground set and I went out hunting for something to work.

I avoided the maples and went to look at what else is available for shade trees. I found some elms and I liked the size and the prices of them. Then I thought I'd check the maples out anyway. There I found a tree I was intrigued by. It's leaves are variegated, meaning they have green middles and are edged in yellow. I liked it! And the sign said it has a warm yellow fall foliage - another plus. The price was reasonable too. Mike finally came over with the kids and we looked at the two choices I had it narrowed down to. We decided on the maple.

It looks great in the front yard! We read that it will probably loose it's variegation over the years but we are okay with that. Norway maples are also not looked favorably on on the upper east coast because they can be somewhat invasive. However, Norway maples are on the recommended shade tree lists for Iowa so we feel okay with having it.