![]() Powdery mildew tends to create a problem for gardeners in middle to late summer, reducing the strength and damaging the appearance of infected plants, but rarely killing them. The cause is a group of related fungi that each attack a limited number of closely related plants. Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that leaves a superficial, white, dusty coating on leaves of a wide variety of plants. Your beautiful maple may be suffering from powdery mildew. ![]() 10 Botany (Taxonomy, Nomenclature and Morphology).So, her spirit lives on eternally, a symbol of love, strength and generosity. The energy and loving spirit lives on and her seeds continue each spring, to awaken and to give life to a new generation of maple seedlings wherever they can find a welcoming foot hold. But the energy of this mighty being carries on. The tall, strong trunk is gone. The glorious crown of perfectly shaped leaves is gone. The story is all past tense, but what lives on? What is the future? How does her story continue? The physical manifestation of the tree is gone. After all, I hung my heart in her sweet branches. Forever in love with my Maple and so grateful to have known her. Everything about her was perfect and I miss her still. I can still feel her bark on my hands, ruggedly smooth and soft…so gentle to the touch. I was in shock and still carry that sadness with me. I still don’t understand how she committed such an atrocity. I couldn’t believe the cruelty and the lack of understanding on my mother’s part. We still had so much growing to do together. It was akin to hearing that a dear friend had been killed, our relationship cut short. My husband, children and I had just arrived back in Pittsburgh from living in Washington State it was nighttime and I hadn’t yet seen the death and destruction. My heart was broken beyond repair when my mother boldly announced at the dinner table that she had had the tree cut down. It’s difficult to put into words how I felt about her, how much I loved her and how I still mourn her death. Just thinking about her makes me well up. ![]() The squirrels, the birds, the insects, and mostly the way I felt. I remember it all in great detail…the feel, the smell, the look. I remember the feel of her bark, her gentle touch. I remember the many helicopter seed pods and all of the baby Maples that grew in the yard, only to be mowed down. I can still remember where each of the lower branches was and the technique I used for getting up into the arms of my sweet tree by wrapping my hands around one of her lower, but still barely reachable limbs then walking my feet up her wide trunk and swinging my body onto one of her arms. I used to spend my alone time climbing up and sitting in the branches. ![]() Some people love to hate this invasive tree but I will always love the Norway Maple and hold it on the altar of my heart. She provided a place to hang the basketball hoop that my dad fashioned from a bushel basket and also was where he hung my tire swing. Years later my children’s swing set was there and another generation of neighborhood children enjoyed her love and comfort. Later she shaded my swing set where my friends and I spent countless hours. As a baby she provided shade for my playpen. I grew up never knowing life without her. They say that “home is where you hang your heart.” Growing up in West View my outdoor home was where I hung my heart, especially in my Maple tree. Nancy Martin stands where her beloved maple tree used to grow at her childhood home in West View.
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