A native Virginian, Jim graduated from William and Mary where he majored in geology. He worked with the US Geological Survey then switched to computer science after moving to California. He and his wife, Lynn, moved to Raleigh in 1984, where he worked with Hewlett Packard before retiring. Jim and Lynn are enthusiastic gardeners. Among many gardening activities, they are volunteers at the JC Raulston Arboretum where they have been recruited to prune the Japanese Maple collection. Their garden was one of the features of our recent Gardens on Parade tours.

Jim’s presentation is a survey of why Japanese Maples have become such beloved understory trees. These ever-popular trees present an amazing variety of leaf and tree form, variegation, bark variegations, as well as whimsey. All pictures are trees from Lynn and Jim Swanson's collection of more than 240 maples.