'SWEET' SWEETGUMS "Their Baaaaaack!!!"

"WHAT??????"

 I am one of those crazy people that loves  Sweetgum trees (Liquidambar styraciflua).  I was first entranced by the Sweetgum's corky wings along it's branches when I was taking plant ID back in 1980 as a beginning student of landscape design. 

I knew that furniture can be made from Sweetgum wood and I fancied my self as maybe becoming 'The Forest Furniture Lady' crafting rustic pieces from saplings growing in the woods. So,  I actually made a chair out of some especially  handsome corky  branches. This was over 20 years ago. The chair was 6' tall and 6' wide with all the branches flying out from the seat and back looking , for all the world like Oberon's Throne. I pruned it over the years to fit into different corners of my inside rooms where it lived for years. Then I spray painted it red and it lived the rest of it's useful life on the front porch. Locust beetles infiltrated it there coming from a rustic bench I had brought down from the mountains.  So, it had to move from the house proper. Now, what remains has been melting into the woodland for the last four years.  It's majestic wings clipped and haggard looking in old age. 

Before I even got into landscape  design  I used to notice the interesting spiny balls dangling all over the tall trees at Christmas time. I loved seeing how they miraculously decorated themselves for the coming solstice.

If you live in a woodland with Sweetgum, Loblolly Pine, Oak, Maple, Dogwoods, the odd Elm and Sassafras,  you may be able to experience what I call 'Fairy Rain'. Just before and during the time the balls fly to the ground, while the woodland is dry and still with no wind, the seed capsules open up dropping their tiny seeds everywhere. As they bounce off the dry leafy forest floor listen for a delicate sound almost like that of sleet. 

This Fairy is only 4" tall. 

 I have often wished that the Sweetgum balls themselves would drop off before Christmas so that they could be used in decorations and arrangements. But, they hold on to the tree until February just before Valentine's Day. It's then that I collect perfect gum balls and get out my glue gun and some pretty ribbon to make prickly hearts to give to a Valentine friend or foe. 

Another way I like to use sweet gum balls is to enhance garden seats or benches that are in decline. 

This park bench started leaning to one side after the strapping beneath the bench came away from the wooden slats. I decided to keep it as a wonky garden feature.  Every year it is graced with a fresh line of prickly Sweetgum balls placed in between the mossy slats as a warning for people to not sit.  The loose decoration will last well through the summer. 

I  can twist an ankle as easily on a Sweetgum ball as I can on a pinecone so I'm pretty regular about keeping my paths cleared. 

Pine cones fall all year long and luckily Sweetgum balls for only two to three weeks. (Post Note Correction!!!! The gum balls are still falling and it is April 21st) and now July 5th the thunder storms are still shaking out the old gum balls

I rake or blow off my paths when they seem too treacherous to walk on. I know I'll get flack for using a blower these days, but, I usually plan this garden task when I can stay at home.....for the whole day. It makes me feel a little better trading off using gas in the blower as opposed to the car for a 4 mile round trip in the car to the grocery store. 

 The Sweetgum is an easy tree to garden under because the root system is fingerlike, not fibrous the way maples, oaks and dogwoods are, so if it's possible to  keep a Sweetgum tree somewhere on your property away from a driveway or frequented footpath, do. Try to  let even one in your woodland thrive. This tree will reward you with beautiful fall color, cooling summer shade, decorative seed capsules that you can use in arrangements or under Hostas as a mulch to keep pesky slugs away.  I've also been told that if you feel like your teeth need brushing while on a woodland walk you can break off a branch and start scrubbing away. You may want to Google 'Uses for a Sweetgum Tree' and be surprised at all of its useful properties. 

Enjoy our native Eastern  (Sweet) 

Sweetgum!!!!!