This is our little Maple. It is not spectacular when it changes, like some maples, but I love it even so.
It always looks beautiful in Spring when it gets the new leaves, & during the winter there are huge clumps of Clivea growing underneath it, which are given sun in the absence of the leaves, & seem to love being snuggled up to the Maple trunk.You can see the bright shiny leaves of another shrub I planted called Wizard Magic- I think!, or something of that nature. I fear it is going to be much larger than promised, so it will need trimming. It has pink flowers, & is a pretty sight, but it is a little smothered under the maple.
When we lived in Christchurch in New Zealand, we lived opposite the river in the Inner City Hotel. The River was the Avon, of course, & there are beautiful old trees growing on the banks. They have spectacular foliage & look wonderful when they change colour & drop the leaves.
Tbey are also very beautiful in the spring when they grow their beautiful lime green leaves, & then become covered with flowers like huge candles of pink & white. We lived in an upstairs flat, so the line of sight out of our windows was the magical trees.
And in the Autumn when all the leaves fell, it was fun to rush through all the leaves with the children. A safe & happy place to play, & throwing huge bunches of crisp coloured leaves was fun for adults as well as the children.
Because we had no grounds or lawns, at the Hotel, we used to spend quite a lot of time over in the beautiful Botanical Gardens, a truly magic place at all seasons during the year. Wonderful fields of daffodils in spring, & beautiful gardens of roses, & Irises and all manner of other flowers for all seasons.
A small pool was built in the gardens so children could swim or have a splash in the hot summer days. There was a wonderful area for picnics, & it is really a lovely park, so close to the city centre.
The edges of Hagley Park had huge trees of the deciduous type, that all shed their leaves & it was lovely to go running through the deep drifts of leaves, lying like great curdles of gold & brown under the bare branches, in the late Autumn sun.
GOM's parents lived within walking distance of our Hotel, & we would sometimes take the children through the Park on the way, & I think their favourite time was Autumn also, when the leaves were such fun to romp about in.
Once, GOM lost all his keys to the Hotel! We searched for hours to no avail. He knew a man who collected the leaves, as they did from time to time, & he promised to look for them. We never did find them, & all the locks had to be changed on the Hotel doors, although there were no identifying marks to say where the keys belonged.
The falling leaves were the bane of GOM's father's life. He had retired, & he loved to potter about so GOM offered him the job of keeping the Hotel carpark, & yards clean & tidy. He loved doing it, & he came up every morning to have breakfast with the children, so it was a nice chance for them all to really spend time together. He was a very nice man with a great sense of humour.
But he would get out in the yard, & he would grumble at those leaves! And he would cut all the flax really short, & trim all the shrubs to within an inch of their lives! And of course when the riverbank trees shed their leaves, they would inevitably blow across the road, & into the carpark, making him grumble all the more.
And here is a beautiful sunset taken up at Tuncurry Caravan Park, where Mr & Mrs NN have recently been staying for a little break. It is so tranquil looking.
Maybe it is seeing pics like this that have given me this restless feeling, that I would like to take a trip or just have a change of...of ... something!
