Our doorbell rang this morning. It was the new thing I was going to learn today. But I didn't know it at the time. My wife answered the door and invited in the father of one of our daughter's friends who slept over last night. He came into the kitchen, looked out the window and said "You have a tulip popular in your backyard." To which my wife responded, "Is that what it's called?"
We would refer to it sometimes as the "buttercup" tree because of the unique flower it produces in late spring and early summer. The flower is greenish-yellow with an orange coloring at the base of the petals and it does, now that someone mentioned it, resemble a tulip.
I learned that the tulip popular, or the tulip tree, is native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. It's an excellent ornamental tree but is valued as a honey tree. In one season a typical tree can yield 8 pounds of nectar, which equals 4 pounds of honey. The dark reddish, fairly strong honey gets mixed reviews as a table honey but is favorably regarded by bakers.
No comments:
Post a Comment