What a lovely article, Neil. I love the blooms, and you know how much I love trees.

I'm not very fond of spiders, though!

Thanks!

I am simply amazed at how eloquently you put your words. I wish I had so much in bloom.

it is a very good article Neil, with excellent pictures. The only Maple tree I know are the three in my own yard and they are Norway Maples. They make me crazy with their seeds germinating all over the place. I always tell Ed if every darn plant in the yard dies we can always grow dumb Maple trees. I pull seedlings out of my gardens beds every time I weed....

My Dearest Cherie, the Norway maple, sycamore or Acer pseudoplatanus is a pest everywhere it grows. It spreads everywhere here and takes out our Native trees, which is not good.
The seeds are like Helicopters and seem to grow wherever they land, even on cracks in the paving! In the spring I have an amazing thing for the seedlings and that is my Flamethrower! It is Gas powered and sends a small stream of very hot flame out, so you can cremates them and it sterilizes the soil just around them so it kills the roots. Unfortunately for circumstances out of my control, i am not allowed to use it at the moment, which is a blow to moral. Imagine Ed with one of these, what fun he could have! Cremates Dandelions and anything, great fun.
You should get him one and he could mount it on his mower, see a weed fry it!
Kindest Regards.
Neil.
p.s it is strange having my Garden on the Article.

Uh Neil, we have a propane torch that I have used on occasion on weeds too stubborn to come out. I have grounded myself from it right now though. Was out weeding one day and there was an of grass growing in one bed, so I got my trusty torch and promptly started just burning them up, I had cut back a Russian Sage but didn't take the time to get the few dry leaves from inside the crown and they caught fire and my poor Russian Sage.......... Took my shoe off to stamp out the fire and put the thing away. Surprisingly, the Russian Sage seems to be leafing out after all so I guess it didn't burn too much. But still I am putting myself on a time-out from the torch till May 1st.

I can be so hopeless sometimes

Dear Cherie, my neighbour asked me to burn the weeds out of the gravel in her front garden. Easy job I thought, annual weeds in gravel quick burn up, no problem!
I just went forward burning everything, and then got a funny smell. I thought it may be the weeds until I looked behind me and the garden had caught on fire and the wooden fence was burning quite happily! She had the garden done by some cheap contractors who claimed they were going to put some crushed Hard Core down a thin layer of cement and then gravel, so that the water went into the drains. They didn't they had put down a cheap layer of black plastic just under the gravel which was about an inch down. So with the flame from that high pressure lance it caught on fire! Caught the fence on fire and the wood around the wheelie bins as well. Oh dear!
Luckily my hose was out in my garden, so I soon put it out with all the neighbours watching until the fire Brigade turned up as somebody had rung them, they had a good laugh and I made them all a Bacon sandwich and a cup of tea!
Luckily she was not too annoyed with me, just the contractors who had charged her a lot of money for something they had not done.
Won't do that again.
Regards & Hugs.
Neil.

Okay I feel better now.

You know I bet I did look a sight with my shoe off beating the fire from those dead leaves.

What can I say? It wouldn't be if there was some sort of mishap along the way.

You should have asked Sarah, she could put a forest fire out with her underwear!
Regards.
Neil.

Oh your bad Neil You;'re so bad...........

Wonderful article, Neil, and your photos are so lovely. I particularly liked the first 2 maples, the acers davidii Pere David and Rosalie, but all of them were delightful, especially your finest garden accents, the cats! We are now owned by 4 cats, 3 rescued, and have always welcomed cats into our lives and our hearts. Thank you.

Angie

Yep, there are some Crazy gardeners out there, but I won't name them, Ha! You know who you are... =) ..... !Hey, it's May 1st!... time-out is Over, Cece--- you can get out the torch again!......(just be careful, ok.?!)... Neil, I don't know--- maybe you should Stay in time-out for an indefinite time, Ha!!

Dear Connie, sorry I don't quite understand "maybe you should Stay in time-out for an indefinite time, Ha!!"
Maybe you could inform me what I have done?
Regards.
Neil.

WELDING!!!!!!

Neil... the flame-thrower, catching the neighbor's fence & garden On Fire!! ---- The story you just told us up above? ... 'time-out' for that--- but it was just a joke... must be the American/English disconnection. Oh well, never mind...!
Cherie-- Hey, you did Good using your shoe to put out the fire... too bad you weren't there to help Neil out with His fire, Ha!!