I've got this blessing and a curse of a black walnut tree outside my front door. The bark is lovely and the shape is attractive. The foliage and nuts have a smell that I would pay for if it could be bottled into a perfume. What I don't like is the toxic juglone that exudes from the tree, killing all plants that are not juglone resistant. The juglone is most concentrated in the buds, nut hulls and roots. I have a little garden by the front door and all that I can get to grow in there is astilbe, lily of the valley and some coleus. So now, when the walnuts are falling off the tree, I pick them up, put them to my nose for a quick whiff of their beautiful smell, and whip them across the yard as far as I possibly can. Why? I throw these walnuts so the squirrels do not dig large holes burying them and unearthing them in the spring leaving my yard looking like a land mine site. I throw walnuts so the squirrels do not inadvertently kill my plants by leaving walnuts husks on them. In past years, one of Offspring #2's friends, a wiry little guy, took it upon himself to denude the walnut tree of all walnuts when he came over to celebrate her birthday in September. Every year at the birthday party, he spent hours and lots of energy, getting every last walnut off the tree. He'd climb and he'd throw things to knock them off. I don't know how he got them all off but he did. Now they're both away at college so I have to throw my own walnuts. I've thrown about a dozen walnuts so far this week. I threw one this morning on my way to the mailbox to get the newspaper. I held onto it until I got nearly to the road and then I whipped it. As it left my hand I hoped no one was walking down the road behind the bushes as I would have nailed them in the head. I have tried to use them for nuts but I've had no success. All I got for my efforts were stained hands and clothes. The nut meats were filled with a clear yet brown staining liquid.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Walnut Throwing Season
I've got this blessing and a curse of a black walnut tree outside my front door. The bark is lovely and the shape is attractive. The foliage and nuts have a smell that I would pay for if it could be bottled into a perfume. What I don't like is the toxic juglone that exudes from the tree, killing all plants that are not juglone resistant. The juglone is most concentrated in the buds, nut hulls and roots. I have a little garden by the front door and all that I can get to grow in there is astilbe, lily of the valley and some coleus. So now, when the walnuts are falling off the tree, I pick them up, put them to my nose for a quick whiff of their beautiful smell, and whip them across the yard as far as I possibly can. Why? I throw these walnuts so the squirrels do not dig large holes burying them and unearthing them in the spring leaving my yard looking like a land mine site. I throw walnuts so the squirrels do not inadvertently kill my plants by leaving walnuts husks on them. In past years, one of Offspring #2's friends, a wiry little guy, took it upon himself to denude the walnut tree of all walnuts when he came over to celebrate her birthday in September. Every year at the birthday party, he spent hours and lots of energy, getting every last walnut off the tree. He'd climb and he'd throw things to knock them off. I don't know how he got them all off but he did. Now they're both away at college so I have to throw my own walnuts. I've thrown about a dozen walnuts so far this week. I threw one this morning on my way to the mailbox to get the newspaper. I held onto it until I got nearly to the road and then I whipped it. As it left my hand I hoped no one was walking down the road behind the bushes as I would have nailed them in the head. I have tried to use them for nuts but I've had no success. All I got for my efforts were stained hands and clothes. The nut meats were filled with a clear yet brown staining liquid.
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1 comment:
There's a black walnut tree on my walk to campus. The squirrels use the sidewalk to open them, so there are chunks of shell and brown stains running down the sidewalk. I took one and brought it in my room so it would smell good, but it's not working too well.
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