I discovered something the other day, I mean learned something new that is. It’s about a certain kind of tree. The first time I came across this tree was on one of my early morning walks through a cemetery.

There are all kinds of huge mature trees through out this peaceful cemetery. The tombs go all the way back to the civil war. It’s a really old cemetery. The path through the cemetery eventually leads to the woods and a beautiful path that follows the creek, which is even more beautiful. I love walking the creek trail.

Anyway, while walking through the cemetery I noticed all these little spikey balls everywhere. They look like the Corona virus, that’s what it reminded me of when I bent down to pick one up.

“How strange” I remember thinking to myself. Trying to figure out what the heck it was.

I looked up above me and studied the tree. There were spikey balls all over it, on it’s branches.

Fast forward a year later and my husband and I would end up purchasing an old Giraffe home that came with this tree with the weird spikey seed pods. The tree is huge and makes a great shade tree. I’m not sure home many we have, as of now I just noticed the front yard because of all these little seed pods everywhere. I still need to check around the other parts of the property to see what all those trees are. I should do an inventory of the trees we have on that property and label what they are.

There is one tree that produces the prettiest lavender/pink colored flowers in the Spring, along with the Dogwood tree, now that’s a beautiful tree.

I didn’t know we had a sugar gum tree. I believe that’s what this tree is, it looks like it now that I researched it.

Those little seed pods are medicinal. This tree is one of those trees that they use to make Tamiflu medication. You can use the seed pods in your gardens to keep pest away or turn them into mulch for your garden. Use them along with firewood for your fireplace, and some people will even buy them for crafting.

My favorite part is the medicinal benefits. I will have to wait for the seed pods to be green though, and that should happen sometime in June, so we will see how that all works out. I’m discovering many plants at the old property. That’s why I’m here, to learn about plants and foods. I already have years of knowledge on desert plants, since I was a little girl growing up in old Arizona. I refer to that time as old Arizona, it was much better back then. Learning about the plants around me has always been one of my favorite hobbies.

Some people hate this tree because of the seed pots getting everywhere, and that’s no joke either. You can’t walk barefoot when the seed pods are dropping. They call them Southern Legos.

Just rake them up and throw them in the compost bin. They are so strange looking to me. Did you ever notice that the shape of some plants seeds seem to represent something about them, like a big Ol clue that God is giving us somehow…we just need to open our eyes to see it.

Years back in Arizona when my family and I were going through the bug battles that took over the world…I would never of thought I would come in contact with a tree like this. That’s the funny thing about where our paths lead us. Never in a million years would I have thought I would end up were I am now…in the Ozarks learning about a whole new variety of beautiful plants and trees.

Please, take your children out there in nature, teach them, show them…continue to share all knowledge with the little ones.