Re: [gardeners] A primer on sweetgum trees
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 16 Sep 2002 13:52:04 -0600
At 11:29 AM 9/16/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Should also have noted that I used to cut small pieces of limb from them
>for my great-grandmother to use to clean her teeth. Another use was to
>wet a frayed end of tiny sweetgum limb and then stick it in her jar of
>Garrett's Sweet Snuff and then paint it inside her lower lip. I used to
>hate for the sweet old lady to kiss me goodnight because I was afraid
>she was going to get snoose juice on me. She was a dear old soul though
>and has been gone since 1957.
>
>When I was a kid we used to chew the thick sap of the sweetgum tree like
>chewing gum.
>
>And you're right about messing up a sidewalk, they drop sap all the time
>and it is sticky as the dickens.
>
>George
Ron's in the area where there's a more devastating tree. I think it's
called a Pepper tree, but I have no idea what the botanical name is. I had
a lime green convertible, and unwittingly parked under one of those @#$%
trees when I lived in L.A. Soon my car looked like it had measles. I
carefully read my insurance policy and paid a call to my agent. I asked for
a new paint job, since I was covered by things falling from above. He
sighed and said there was a way to deep clean the present paint, and would
I at least try that? If I then wasn't satisfied, they'd repaint my
car. The deep cleaning did the trick. And I didn't have to pay for
it. Margaret L