Here is something thought a few of you might enjoy reading about. The cultivar 'Dr. Tilt' which can be found in many nurseries and collections across the United States and Europe grew its fame from the late Harold Johnston who named the tree after a professor at Auburn. The problem here is that the tree was already grafted and named 'Gwen Reid' before Harold got a hold of it. This past weekend I headed down to Auburn to visit some fellow maple collectors. In most maple collections that I ventured through the tree is still labeled as 'Gwen Reid' or sometimes misspelled 'Gwen Reed'. While I was down in Auburn, I wanted to go find Gwen Reid and ask her about the tree and get permission from her to take a few cuttings to graft off of the original tree. After talking to a few locals, I got an idea about the location of the tree. I found it, but on my first attempt Ms. Reid was not at home. On my second attempt I met her, got trimmings, and listened to the known history of this tree. She told us that the tree had been planted a few years before she moved into the house in the mid 1980's. Ever since she has constantly found people in her yard taking photos of her beautiful tree year-round. In the 90's, the city decided to put in sidewalk that interfered with the tree's roots. Ms. Reid knew that if it meant the tree or the sidewalk, there wouldn't be a sidewalk. She reached an agreement where the city hand-cut the roots on the road-side of the tree to put in the sidewalk. She fed the tree and it had responded well ever since. Every few years she says she has to keep the roadside tree maintenance from cutting branches off of the original 'Gwen Reid'. Ms. Reid now sits on the Tree Commission Board for the city Auburn. According to the website of the board, one of it's main goals is to protect trees on private property. Looks like she is doing a good job of protecting this beauty. Attached is a photo I took of original 'Gwen Reid'/'Dr. Tilt'.
