Sweetgum balls

You know, the super magical thing about the internet is that it can make you the bearer of almost instant knowledge on just about anything. This comes in handy when you hang out with kids. The 'aha, I never knew!' moments are exhilarating. For instance, yesterday I finally googled 'tree with spiky balls.' Yeah, I giggled a little inside at the search terms. However, the search is long overdue; we've taken hundreds of walks in our neighborhood and have run into the same patches of 'spiky…

You know, the super magical thing about the internet is that it can make you the bearer of almost instant knowledge on just about anythin...

Liqudambar styraciflua 'American Sweetgum' I know of a lot of people who detest this tree, but this Missouri native is one of my favorites.... It's a tall (up to 100 feet) symmetrical beauty that looks great in any setting. In the fall, its leaves can go through the entire spectrum of colors--green to yellow-red-orange and purple.... Here's why the tree sometimes has a bad reputation--its infamous hard spiky gum balls.... This fruit turns from green to brown as they ripen during the fall…

Those spiny balls, seed pods, dropped by your sweet gum tree can actually be put to good use. This is a guide about uses for sweet gum balls.

Disclaimer: The instructions I offer here in this post (and in all my posts about herbs and home remedies) are what I use personally at home. Of course the standard disclaimer goes: I am not a doctor and don’t prescribe medicines or herbs, this is just what we have done here for generations with great results. Here […]

i spent some time this weekend decorating for the holidays. it’s one of my favorite things to do, especially when i have the time to actually MAKE some of them. one project i thought of thi…

Sweetgum trees are a fall beauty with their variegated colorful leaves. However, for many homeowners this display does not make up for the deluge of spiny seed pods that litter their yard. This is a guide about preventing a sweetgum tree from making balls.

If you have a sweetgum tree nearby, you probably have more sweetgum balls than you know what to do with. Our Master Gardener knows many ways to use them up.

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)- male & female flower parts with fruit ball hanging below.