Okay, I confess that one of the first things I do in the morning is to turn on my phone/computer and check my news feeds - mostly to see what might have happened over the last 8 hours I was sleeping. It’s pretty ridiculous when you think about it, but that seems to be the norm. It has been estimated that adults spend 11 hours a day looking at screens and check their phones every 10 minutes. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, tweens log in 4.5 hours a day and teens spend almost 7 hours. Imagine how much happier and healthier we all might be if we spent that much time in the garden….

It goes without saying that Japanese maples, in all of their varied shapes, sizes and foliage options, represent some of my favorite botanical treasures. My landscape remains dotted with a number of them that I planted when I first moved in, but over the years I have…