Ep 80. Halloween History & Sycamore Ghosts

In this episode, we share Halloween's History and the legends of Sycamore Trees, also known as the Ghosts of the Forest. We talk about the magnificence of Sycamore, one of our largest hardwood trees, and the happy ghosts circling a massive one in Hope Township, NJ.

 We wrap up with creating garden ghosts - my humorous ritual of covering potted gardens with sheets to protect them from frost. This year, I let nature do her thing. There's freedom in that. 

Link to Related Stories:

Halloween History & Sycamore Ghosts

My garden ghost routine - the preamble to Overwintering Potted Gardens

The Legend of Marigolds and the Day of the Dead. 

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I'd love to hear about your garden and nature stories. And your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com. Thanks so much for tuning in :^)

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Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer

Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com 

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Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 80 Halloween History and Sycamore Ghosts

Sat, Oct 29, 2022 12:58PM • 8:25

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

garden, sycamore, legends, halloween, history, ghosts, plant, celebration, fun, drought, dilemmas, hope, mary, spirits, township, day, home, porch, funny, candy, alkaline soil, new jersey, mary stone, ask mary stone, garden dilemmas

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries. It's not only about gardens, it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from Mother Nature and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Mary Stone  00:26

 Hello, it's Mary stone on the screen porch. What a shift in the weather. My goodness, it warmed up considerably. I'm just back from a road walk and the darn ticks are in there full speed ahead. Haven't seen many of them. That was one advantage of the drought summer we endured. how fun it was to hear from a few of you thanking me for the assurance that their needle drop is normal on their pine trees and their evergreens. Kathy from Jehovah Pennsylvania asked about a Rhododendron, also with yellowing leaves, and I assured her that it's normal to drop, I say about a fifth of the leaves each year as well. And so there shouldn't be a problem; although hers were newly planted this spring during the drought season, but they kept fabulous care of their plants, watering their plant babies as we talked about in episode 60, Watering New Plant Babies. It's a fun story, so I hope you enjoy it if you haven't listened to it already. 

Mary Stone  01:24

So we are on the cusp of Halloween, and a funny incident occurred while walking Jolee, which turned into a column topic that starts like this. 

Mary Stone  01:34

Hello fellow listeners and readers. Halloween enthusiasts decorate their homes like Christmas with purple and orange lights, cobwebs, and spiders. It's so fun to see even smoke machines reminiscent of the disco days, skeletons, goblins, and ghosts adorned a front yard we came upon. Some were hanging from ropes, and others were hidden behind rocks. Joe Lee barked a warning which she rarely does. She usually opts to pull me towards folks to say hello, but these folks were too scary. Where did the gruesome side of Halloween originate? I thought to myself, preferring happy jack-o-lanterns and corn stalks. Jolly ghosts are fine, too, like the ones circling a massive sycamore tree on route 519 and Hope Township, New Jersey. And so on with the research cap, I had to find out again why the gruesome side of Halloween. 

Mary Stone  02:30

Halloween originated 2000 years ago with the Celts, who lived in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and Northern France. They celebrated November 1 as their new year, a day that marked the harvest and the beginning of winter. Yet winter was associated with death due to the struggle of living through long cold months with very little food. They held the festival pronounced Sow-in spelled S-a-m-h-a-i-n is from sunset on October 31 to sundown the following day. The night of the 31st is when they believe the spirits of the dead returned, so they set places at their tables to invite them home. They dressed is disguise mostly in mummy-like costumes, and visit a neighbor's reciting verses in exchange for foods such as nuts and apples. They believe the presence of spirits helped the priests predict the future, which served as a comfort in facing the harsh winter ahead. 

Mary Stone  03:29

It occurs to me as I'm sharing the history of the Celtics and their celebration. There is another one we spoke about way back in Episode One of this podcast - Legend of Marigolds & About Mary Stone. We talk about the celebration of the Day of the Dead where marigolds are often decorating homes where they celebrate their loved ones that are on the other side but with a still, and they truly are. I hope you find comfort in that. So anyway, on with the story. 

Mary Stone  04:00

The Celtic celebrations found their way into Christianity in the eighth century, when Pope Gregory the third named November 1 a day to honor saints, it morphed into All Saints Day and integrated some Celtic celebration traditions. The evening before was first called All Hallows Eve and later Halloween. Somehow Halloween shifted to a secular holiday and the nuts and the apples turned into candy. Perhaps a strategy of candy companies. But all in good fun. 

Mary Stone  04:31

It's interesting that areas that aren't close nearby have Halloween and garden events held at public gardens or garden centers. What a clever way to introduce young folks to gardening fun. Maybe we should start that trend around here and pass out bulbs as a treat along with candy. There's still time to plant spring flowering bulbs. After all, smiley face.

Mary Stone  04:54

 Back to the magnificent Sycamore in Hope. There are legends dating back to Egyptian time where the Holy Sycamore reaching the heavens connected the dead with the living world. American Sycamore which is Platanus occidentalis is one of our largest hardwood trees growing 80 to over 100 feet tall with massive trunks and beefy, crooked branches easy to see through the open canopy. They thrive best in deep, moist soil and they can tolerate acidic neutral or alkaline soil. They grow quickly. And they also do well in wetness and drought in zones four to nine. I have to say, I literally drop everything I'm doing when I am near a grand sycamore tree. There's just something so stately about them. They really are stunning. 

Mary Stone  05:42

Native Americans called them ghosts in the forest. Perhaps that's why the grand Sycamore and Hope Township sports a wooden pumpkin poster that says boo. Happy Halloween. Garden dilemmas, asked Mary stone.com. 

Mary Stone  05:58

So it was so fun on my way home yesterday after day two of planting 82 native trees on a historic site in Asbury New Jersey. I made a point of swinging by that magnificent Sycamore and Hope Township and I grabbed a photo it was kind of hard to do, because it's a country road with no shoulders and kind of a busy road for this area. But I was able to roll down the window and grab a shot of those dancing ghosts around the magnificent Sycamore. I think it has like a five foot caliber trunk I'm thinking maybe even bigger. And that pumpkin smiley face saying boo. It just cheers me up as does that grand Sycamore. 

Mary Stone  06:39

Speaking of ghosts, it brings a memory of a story way back in 2013, about garden ghosts. You know, the routine of covering your potted gardens with sheets, when there's the first risk of frost, there's always that parody. It's like, so let me cover them -we're supposed to get a frost. So you do that night after night. And then there's a warm spell, and then you return to doing it. It's such a funny comedy. And it's a funny story. Again, I'll put a link in the show notes. But this year, I have to say I did not cover my potted gardens with sheets, deciding to let nature do its thing. There's a certain freedom in that. Besides, you can put your plants to good use that fade away, like adding them to the compost pile or dispersing the seeds in hopes that they germinate to new plants next spring. 

Mary Stone  07:30

Thanks so much for coming by. I always enjoy our time together and hope you have as well, and if so, I would really appreciate those of you who feel so inclined to provide a five-star rating. Because the more we have of those for some magical reason more people find us, and then more people can join us and learning and growing in the garden of life. Thanks so much. See you next time. 

Mary Stone  07:55

You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden dilemmas, delights, and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch. And always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.