Warning: Maple trees are dangerous to your mental health

Here is a short lesson on what not to do.

Do not plant maples trees near your home. Period, end of story.

Do not let the fact that they shade the house from the hot summer sun sway you.

Do not let their fall beauty seduce you.


Do not, I repeat, do not plant them near your house if you value your mental health. Believe me, I should know. We have at least seven maple trees surrounding our house.

We spent at least an hour this Memorial Day, on our roof, cleaning out our gutters which were totally filled with whirley-birds a.k.a. Maple seeds.
And this was not the beginning. The beginning of May brought their blooms which when they fell created their own mess. But since that is now finished it is the whirley-birds and their mess which is fresh in my mind.

We have swept our porch, walk, and deck multiple times - on the same day. And they are still not finished. All of this gets tracked into the house onto the carpets. Everywhere I turn I find them. They are in my hair, in the baby's play pen, not to mention that they are in all of the flower beds and gardens. And today I saw several that had sprouted. I will be pulling maple trees out of the ground the rest of the summer. It is enough to drive one mad.

So please, do yourself a favor and don't plant these messy, messy trees anywhere near your house.