Cicely’s Japanese Maple Tree

We have a Japanese Maple Tree in our backyard. We brought it here when we moved from another house, and we had brought it to that house when we moved from another house. Even that wasn’t its original location though. In all, moving it to this home was its third transplantation.

From whence did it come? When our son was little, my husband or I used to walk him to and from the bus stop when he started kindergarten. While waiting for the bus, Bill struck up a conversation with the woman who owned the house on the corner of the street where the bus stopped.

Cicely had a beautiful garden, and my husband had created one too at our house, so they immediately had something in common. Cicely was from Trinidad and lived a lone in her little house on the corner. She loved her garden and took great care of it.

She had a gigantic Japanese Maple Tree that anchored her garden. One day, she gave Bill a seedling from this tree; it had about two leaves on it. He loved the tree and took it home and gave it a nice spot in our yard. This was about 17 years ago. Since then, it stayed alive but never really thrived, despite the great care and attention that Bill gave to it.

Cicely died shortly thereafter. The people who bought her house did not maintain her garden and all the plants are gone now. Except that tree. It still lives in her garden…and it still lives in ours.

It never really thrived until this year. I don’t know what is different, but Cicely’s Japanese Maple Tree has finally come into its own.

Thanks, Cicely.