Do you know our native California Buckeye Tree? It is apparently undelicious to beavers, but produces some of the loveliest season changes I know of. It is a fractal sillouette in the winter, bursts with flowers in the spring and early summer, and makes a lovely birded canopy for the rest of the year. It producers massive chestnut-like seeds whose smooth surface are perfect for juggling or bouncing off your sister’s head. And long about this time of year, the seeds do something amazing.
They plant themselves!
All through the year the shiny brown nut lays on the ground, uneaten by even the hungriest squirrels. Then when its had just the right mix of sunshine and moisture, it sunddenly wakens like a sleeper cell, splits open and sends a purposful, assertive, extra-terrestial seeming root into the soil.
Once its got its grip on the earth, it hangs on for dear life and begins to grow in earnest. You see these lovely seeds holding their spot on the spinning planet with one arm, and reaching up to the sun with the other. A green leafed shoot begins and the tree is officially on its way.
Some years you find hundreds of these arboreal accomplishments, sometimes one or none, but its a wonderous thing to witness, and I’m sure it anchors us more strongly to our earth when we do. Drive by your nearest EBRP open space and see how the wonders are coming along this season.
With things being so churning and unstable in the world, I think we should all learn from the sprouting buckeye, and hold tight to what we need, while still reaching for what we dream: soil and sunshine both.
