Several years ago, Bhavna and I bought a Japanese maple plant from Home Depot. She was very excited when we brought the plant home. I dug a hole for planting, but she insisted we plant it in a planter. She was worried that the landscapers would damage her plant. Shortly after planting, the tree lost all its leaves, and it seemed that several branches had died. My wife was distraught.
We took the tree planter and all back to the Home Depot. The garden staff inspected the tree and declared it to be "dead". We were still within the warranty period, but Home Depot had no remaining Japanese maples for exchange. Our money was refunded, and Home Depot insisted we dispose of the "dead" plant ourselves. We took the plant, still in the planter, back home and I placed it outside on the front lawn. I still had hope that the tree would revive.
Several weeks went by before I noticed some buds on the "dead" trunk. Then a few more weeks went by, and I confirmed that new branches were growing. Our "dead" tree had come back to life! Bhavna loves when the leaves on her "zombie" Japanese maple change from green in the summer to a deep red in the fall.
Submitted for the 100DaysToOffload project.
