Source tree from La Verne Nursery (Lowes), May 2016
This really is a lovely tree. When it gets older the trunk is grey/tan with these light dots and lines. The young leaves are red turning into copper then it develops into very small dark green leaves that rustle with the slightest wind giving the tree a very feathery quality. My tree had got to about 8 ft tall with a 1" trunk and started branching out nicely so that it had a very pretty shape.
Then in the summer of 2017 a dead spot appeared on the trunk about halfway up the tree. It got worse and eventually the bark died all the way around the circumference in this area, effectively girdling the top half of the tree. Within a couple of months, the whole top half was dead. So I cut the trunk way back and now this spring it is leafing out again. I really hope I can save it.
Leafing out in the spring of 2018 after the large die-back summer 2017
