Where the Red Maple Grows

Did you know that maple trees bloom before leaves come out? There are many different varieties of maples, but our tree starts out each spring with the most delicate looking clusters of light green flowers. Going down each flower stem, you will find a cluster of winged seeds, bright red in color. On a sunny day, the color combination looks absolutely beautiful.

I’ve been observing this tree more this year than usual and noticed that bright red leaves are beginning to open up right under each flower. The flowers will fall off and the leaves will grow and change color through-out the season.
In the summer the leaves turn to a dark, silvery green. I think its late summer, when they tend to turn burgundy and in the Fall we will find an assortment of colors, ending with a lot of yellow and brown.
Sometimes, when I look at this massive 25 year old tree now, I remember how I asked the tree planter to move it further from my wash line - a spindly little nine foot sapling. I remember the funny look he gave me, but he moved it.

It’s funny how a tree can become so much a part of home. A shaded place for our summer barbeques, a father/son or husband/wife leaf raking exercise in the Fall and a place where we hang the grandkids swings from, no matter what the season.

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation:

seed-bearing plants and trees

on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,

according to their various kinds."

And it was so . . .

And God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1: 11,12