As some of you know my garden was the first stop on the Maple Society post-symposium tour. The garden was well past peak, and anyway the year was so horrible, what with the late spring deep freeze, pounding sun and drought, the maples were by and large not much to look at. Still everyone was very polite, we had drinks and coffee/tea which may have helped! I must say the other gardens were really incredible, especially Le Vasterival and M. le Dantec, and being up by the coast had been spared the worst. The garden Le Mesnil was also notable, it had been a stockyard in the 50s, and the maples there grow quickly to incredible size thanks to the, erm, well-fertilized soil. I didn't take pictures anywhere unfortunately, but Adele snapped a few at Les Souffrettes. 1. De Jong verifying the identity of one of my A. pictum. (On a side note, Piet de Jong, co-author of Maples of the World, is a super nice guy who regaled us with a ballad in his fine tenor at the gala dinner. He mostly confirmed my species although there were a couple of "discussions", possible hybrids, etc). 2. I expostulate about something or other in the Aceretum. People appear to be listening! :) Beyond the call of duty, no doubt. Iggy (red hat, from the Royal Bot Garden in Sydney) looks incredulous. 3. Some of the group. Cor van Gelderen, co-author of Maples for Gardens, actually took some very lovely pictures at all the gardens with his fabulous new camera. We were sorry that Doug and other UBC folks weren't able to join us this time, but the symposium was a great success and we enjoyed the visit and tour. -E