Ep 182. Silver Maples - Pushing Hands of Peace

Mary Stone reminisces about the history of Silver Maples, once a Native American treasure, and finding an arrowhead on Sunset Beach in Cape May, New Jersey. And the importance of not taking artifacts as it disrupts the archeological record. As does destroying artifacts of history that teach future generations not to repeat shameful mistakes.

Mary reflects on the wisdom of pushing hands in Tai Chi, advocating for peaceful conflict resolution, empathy towards opposing views, and kinder ways to manage weeds in our garden and garden of life.

Thank you for tuning in!
 
Links to related Episodes and Blog Posts:
 
Silver Maple, a Native American Treasure - Blog Post

Ep 181. Don't Be a Fig Pig - Give a Fig

Ep 146. Money Tree of Abundance-Happier Houseplants

Ep 169. Safe Alternatives to Harmful Weed Killers

Ep 28. Three Sisters, No-Till Gardening


    I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
                                        AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 182 Silver Maples - Pushing Hands of Peace
Sat, Nov 02, 2024 12:29PM • 17:06
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
indoor plants, elephant ear, silver maple, Cape May, pushing hands, Tai Chi, Native American, artifacts protection, weed control, no till gardening, peace and equality, human nature, kindness and love, history preservation, civilized behavior, mary stone
SPEAKERS
Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00
Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in, the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about.

Mary Stone  00:26
Hello there. It's Mary Stone on the screen porch, and it is dusk, and actually you're going to be hearing the sounds of summer crickets in the trees still, and we had a very cold spell. In fact, so much so that the screened porch is now empty of my indoor plants, and now we have a resurge in the warmth, and it felt very summery. Today. I had to put my plants indoors because of those freezing temperatures, and in so doing, I put them in a spot where they spend about a week, so I make sure no critters emerge from the soil. And every year I do the same thing. I have this elephant ear plant which drapes so gloriously from a six-gallon milk jug once my grandpa's who owned a dairy farm, at least, I think it came from his farm. But inside the ears are on a plant trolley, and so it's so close to the floor that I have to give it a haircut, which is fine to do gingerly this time of year. But the best time to prune your indoor plants, to reshape them, is in early spring or late winter, so that the extended daylight hours can help the plants recover. We talked about that in episode 146, Money Tree of Abundance, Happier House Plants. And I will continue using my rainwater, which I keep talking about, or melted snow, for the nitrogen boost. And forego that fertilizing between November and February, because, like our garden plants, indoor plants, rest over winter, and fertilizers can add unnecessary stress. None of us need that, do we? I'm laughing because I'm probably reiterating all these protocols to remind myself of how to take care of my indoor plant babies.

Mary Stone  02:12
Trimming the elephant’s ear always makes me think of Dear Mom and how I'd visit the folks home in Florida to tame the jungle, Mom would say, in gratitude. She'd stand behind me and sweep up detail in her later years. I want to thank those that reach back after the last episode, Don't be a Fig Pig -Give a Fig.  Susan wrote this was one title I couldn't put off tuning into fun and interesting. Thank you, Susan.  I have another story about a treasured tree that brings the wisdom of pushing hands. It starts like this.

Mary Stone  02:49
Hello, fellow lovers of all things green, Silver Maple, once a Native American treasure, has lost favor in the horticultural industry. Still, I adore them, and their history. Silver Maple,  Acer saccharinumum, is native to the eastern United States and Canada, and is often found near water, hence other common names, such as soft maple, swamp maple and white maple. But they are also adaptable to drier areas and require more sunlight than other maples.

Mary Stone  03:25
I remember playing with Silver Maple leaves as a kid. The silvery under leaf reminded me of shiny silver dollars. I picked them to use for currency and play shop. My shop was a bakery of goodies made of colored paper. Later, real baking began. The top part of the Silver Maple Leaf is green, but when the wind blows, the trees seem to sparkle. The bark is silver in color too, until the tree grows older, when it darkens to gray and become shaggy. Sound familiar?

When I wrote this story, I confused Silver Maple for Silver Poplar also known as White Poplar. Thankfully, Marlene and Chris kindly commented on the post and corrected me.

Populus alba, Silver Poplar, were introduced to North America in the mid-1700’s and were widely planted until it naturalized and became an invasive tree, particularly in the East.

Their 3-5 lobed silvery leaves look much like maples. Likley why my dear old Mom, who worked at a garden center, called our tree a Silver Maple.

So the Silver Maple “Coins” I played with as a child were from Silver Poplar.

Mary Stone  03:56
Silver Maple became popular after World War Two for their fast growth, offering quick shade. They were used as street trees in the suburbs and cities to substitute for the American Elm, impacted by blight. Today, Silver Maple is far less favored. They are banned from being used as street trees in some towns because their wood is brittle and needs pruning to keep an attractive form. And they're considered messy, making lots of babies from their pairs of winged seeds over three inches long. The autumn color is not a prominent feature either, typically turning pale yellow and dropping earlier than other maples. Yet the plentiful seeds provide valuable food for many birds, including turkeys and other game. The dense groves of Silver Maple provide essential habitat for wildlife as well. 

Mary Stone  04:47
Silver Maple and Red Maple, Acer rubrum, are the only Maples that produce seeds in spring instead of fall and can immediately germinate. Their close kinship allowed them to hybridize in nature. Mother Nature can be so clever. And it has become a trade staple. The hybrid is known as Freeman maple, and features vast growth of Silver Maple, but with less brittle wood, less invasive roots and bright red fall color. Cultivars are sometimes sold under the name Acer rubrum instead of Acer x freemanii which can be confusing. Jeffersred with Autumn Blaze as a trade name is one of my favorites, turning into a blaze of orange, red, fall color that lasts longer than most.

Mary Stone  05:33
Native Americans use Silver Maple to make sugar baskets and furniture and made cough medicine from the bark. Cape May is a favorite spot to find Native American artifacts. We came upon an arrowhead washed amongst the seaweed on Sunset Beach. There's something sacred about touching something made by the hands of someone over 2000 years ago but be sure to leave it where you found it. The USDA has a poster - the headline just leave it be in big bold faced font. It goes on to say that artifacts found on public lands are protected by state and federal laws making it illegal to take them. They define artifacts as anything used or created by humans, including arrowheads, pottery, coins, baskets, old bottles and cans. Taking artifacts disrupts the archeological record. The information will be lost forever. You can draw or photograph it, then map its location and share the information with your local Forest Service Office. But leave it in place the poster reads and bright red letters. 

Mary Stone  06:39
Shouldn't we say the same thing about sculptures of people or books depicting the history of our country while there are shameful times, we can't grow forward if we hide it. Leaving history in place and teaching it to our youth will help us not repeat wrongs with that, we'll become more civilized in this one world we share with wildlife and each other. Being civilized, after all, is the root of the word civilization. Garden Dilemmas, Ask Mary Stone.com.

Mary Stone  07:12
Indeed, while there are shameful times in our history, we can learn and grow forward from them. The same is true about shameful things we still do if we collectively decide to change how we look and react to things. Arrows were not only used for battle. Native Americans used them to hunt. Bow hunting is a growing trend which seems fairer than guns during a hunt. It reminds me of when there were hunters nearby. Our neighbor, Bill was outside with his young children, and he scolded the hunters for how close an arrow came to his property. When we return from a vacation in Cape May our screens on the porch were torn shot through. I think those hunters thought our house was Bill's, and they were retaliating. It's a human condition that we want to retaliate when attacked, when verbally attacked, too. 

Mary Stone  08:05
Some attack weeds in their gardens and yards with glyphosate, the main ingredient and Roundup now illegal in most countries, since authorities expose the evidence of the implications to our dear Earth and our health. There are alternatives we spoke about in Episode 169 Safe Alternatives to Harmful Weed Killers.

Mary Stone  08:24
It used to be that commercials for Roundup were burly men positioned behind the weapon-looking spray bottle of Roundup attacking weeds as if they were at war. Now their website portrays a softer approach, painting an assurance of safety. Although the All About Us the page talks about the Battle of weeds. Since introducing our first product in 1988, the Roundup brand has revolutionized the way homeowners manage weeds. What began as a single ready-to-use product has expanded into a diverse portfolio of solutions, all with the same goal, victory, because in the battle against weeds, we want you to come out on top. 

Mary Stone  09:03
Oh, my, oh, my, gratefully there are other ways to manage weeds. World leaders use the sophistication of weapons as a marker of the level of civilization, but it's quite the contrary, isn't it. Because we can destroy all life on Earth if we use weapons of mass destruction, there would be no civilization, no life. Wouldn't it be something if we could collectively focus on feeding our Earth and each other in peace instead? I know it sounds cliche - world peace, but I think most of us long for it. 

Mary Stone  09:37
It makes me think of my brother and his passion for Tai Chi, a practice he began teaching in 1988 - his first class at the community center was on August 8, 1988. 8888 Four infinities. I use 8888 as a marker between sections in my book, The Lesson of the Leaf. if I may, share a brief section Pushing Hands. 

Mary Stone  10:05
Tai Chi is an ancient martial art with slow self-defense movements that evolved from observing animals in nature. Brother Bill became embraced in Tai Chi for the meditative principles based on nature and the balance of all living things, his demonstration of pushing hands is my favorite. With legs widely spaced and firmly grounded, he stands hands against hands with a partner. Their upper bodies flow back and forth together in cadence with the ocean tides. Bill's hands slowly yielding to his partner's push, then slowly moving forward to redirect the energy, rather than resist the force with force. It reminds me of his grace jumping hurdles in junior high. 

Mary Stone  10:51
A verbal way to push hands with someone who gives a point of view that you disagree with to incite an argument is to say, thank you for sharing that I never thought of it that way. There's no point in starting a debate or retaliating with words. We all have the freedom of speech. I hope we can preserve that, just as I hope we can preserve history so that we can grow forward.

Mary Stone  11:16
The cadence of the ocean tides. There's such wisdom -- and the rhythm and the strength of water that is soft to the touch and flexible. You can't grasp water unless it's frozen. And it will melt if you do. Think of the times in your daily life that you can fill with your softness rather than pushing back with your words or actions. If we act like water, we grow in strength and understanding of each other. Water always finds its way to the lowest place, which may seem weak, but we all know the strength of water. With your hands you can't push it away, maybe for a minute, but it comes back, as we know in the landscape industry, when tending to drainage issues. We've all seen the magnitude of damage from tropical storms. 

Mary Stone  12:02
Water flows to where there are openings and wears away the rough edges of rocks. Let's not feed the frenzy of judging and attacking others. And I'll add, let's approach life with honesty, integrity and kindness. There is strength in listening rather than arguing. Be more tolerant of opposing opinions rather than judge. We don't have to agree. And maybe try silently thinking about what experiences that person may have or wounds from the past that inspire their outpourings. 

Mary Stone  12:33
There's an analogy with weed killer. Rather than use it. Think about why the weeds are there. Maybe because we haven't nurtured the soil or planted the native seeds that could thrive there. Instead, we've spoken about the increase in bounty with the No-till Method of Gardening, a technique of not digging up the soil, because turning it over encourages more weeds. That was in Episode 28 about No-Till Gardening, just as digging up arguments and perpetuating them escalates more conflict. 

Mary Stone  13:02
But I'm not being naive here. There are times we have to defend ourselves, but only use force as a last resort, and with that comes sadness for the wounded or fallen, the devastating losses, because the resolution didn't come peacefully in a civilized way. And so we prepare if there is a time for a last resort, I suppose.

Mary Stone  13:24
I've mentioned my former dreaded fear of dogs, which I've overcome, but I also am aware that some dogs will attack which stems from their upbringing or training as an attack dog, which is so sad to me, or severe neglect. Like my dear Miss Ellie Mae endured as a young dog before adopting her, she never overcame her fear aggression, yet she was a loving dog. As if on cue, while thinking about this chat today, I was on a road walk with Jolee and a Golden Retriever. The dog, his name is Jack, came charging towards us. He does not listen, the farmer said, but actually was probably a very nice dog. But I'll admit, I reached for my spray that I carry to ward off dogs if they come charging towards us, and I hope I never have to use it, although it would not cause any permanent damage. I also carry a whistle to warn passing bears, which works very well to distract them. So again, we have preparedness in case there is a problem, but hopefully we never have to use it. 

Mary Stone  14:30
We can't change the rhythms of nature, the cycles of predators and prey. However, we can change conflict amongst each other. Each of us can plant seeds of peace and equality. Imagine the roots growing into a forest of magnificent trees. After all, our inherent nature, our human nature, is one of kindness and love. 

Mary Stone  14:53
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. And of course, that's from our Declaration of Independence written so long ago, but since then, thankfully, we realize the words all men mean all people, because we all are indeed equal. So, we've made progress, haven't we? 

Mary Stone  15:13
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. We credit Martin Luther King Jr. for sharing such wisdom.  So many wonderful quotes, so much of his history, that lives on in all of us. Mother Nature took it upon herself to hybridize two native species, the Silver Maple, with the Red Maple, to make a tree now revered. Can humankind do the same thing? I believe so. It starts with you and me. 

Mary Stone  15:45
So thank you for visiting with me and allowing me to share the story of Silver Maple and my brother's story of Pushing Hands and the wisdom that comes from it all.  As I sit here with you - again the sounds of the summer, which sounds so odd when we're in the cusp of November - and we don't have a lot of control over a lot of things in life, but we have control over many things, and certainly we have control over how we interact with each other. How we nurture each other in our dear Earth. We can make a difference. I really believe that. So many people have.  Let us not forget history, and let's learn from it, grow from it, and keep our freedoms of speech and the freedoms to be kind to each other. Thanks so much. I look forward to the next time on the screen porch. 

Mary Stone  16:36
You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden Dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone.  Garden Dilemmas, Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch, and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.