Many year ago I was hiking in the Niagara Gorge with a friend and we came across a whole area of forest floor covered in orange petals! I was astonished and so curious. Upon further inspection I realised we were standing on a bed of tulip tree petals! The crowns of the trees were so tall that we could not see the tops. That moment is embedded in my memory.
I used to have old neighbours who had a 100 year old apple orchard remnants beside their house. My father said there used to be an orchard where he would eat apples as child where their now church is built. I’d collect 20 plus bushels of apples from these lovely people and make cider with kind use Simpler Thyme Farms hand apple press. Upon getting to know these neighbours they introduced me a HUGE tulip tree in their front yard. It was glorious. They gave me baby tulip trees and seeds.
Over 20 years ago my farmer sister and I planted many trees around my parents house. Among them were tulip trees and glorious and rare pawpaws. I recently say that they completely ripped out all of the pawpaws in their grove by the pond. Oh how I felt sad. At least the tulip trees are still there. I planted my sons placenta under it 16 years ago. It takes time for them to flower. Years. One day they finally did flower and I pulled my parents away from the house to show them my delight!
This week I went to the Guelph Arboretum with my beloved boyfriend and we visited the glorious tulip trees. I can not put words to the grand emotions I feel when I see these trees in bloom. It is like coming home to your dream house and life. My whole being fills with pure joy and delight. The simple act of standing an admiring this tree makes me glow and radiate more love. I truly believe that these trees live on the lands in Pleiades along with poppies. Now that I am on earth in the human existence I feel that the plants help me love the earth more and heal me.
Did you know that Tulip trees grow so very straight and tall that the first people made canoes that held 40 people in them? Wow eh! It is great wood to carve for all of you spoon carving enthusiasts. Please make me one and I will be purely delighted. Johnny a old friend made a big serving spoon from a beaver chewed birch and I still treasure it. Another man John whom I met in Hawaii on the beach for my sons 1st birthday carved me a flat flipper spoon from wild wood and it fits my hand perfectly.
Tulip trees are also known as Tulip poplars. They have pain relieving medicine in their inner bark like the willows and red dogwood. Tulip trees can be rare here so I prefer to harvest other types of medicine.
If you prune them, save the wood for the carvers in your life.
The flower essence is very special. It helps the entire system take in, accommodate, and integrate higher energies. At the same time it supports grounding and stability. Restores optimism to those who feel weighed down by the world. Don’t you want to bathe in this?
I hope you get to delight in this incredible tree and all of its glory. Do you have one growing near you? Join me this July 6th in Teeswater, Ontario for the medicine of the trees day.
Love from the river,
Julie Gaia
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