The Luck of the Buckeye

This deep brown, nut-like seed is from a Buckeye tree.  The shiny brown color and lighter tan circle on the seed gives it the appearance of a deer’s eye, thus the name of the tree.  We have quite a few seedlings growing on our property, thanks to the squirrels who gather the nuts from a mature tree two blocks up the street.  You can see the teeth marks from the little critter on the nut above.  Similar to a Horse Chestnut, these nuts are supposed to bring good luck to those who carry them.

The buds of the young Buckeye are large compared to other tree buds, which gives us an inkling of what’s to come.

The bud cover now looks so small compared to what it contained.

Nearly a month has passed since I took a picture of the bud.  The leaves are beginning to turn green and look more mature.

And this is the tree up the street that the nut probably came from and that will soon be blooming in showy clusters of flowers.  It takes decades for a tree to reach its full potential–from shiny brown seed to flowering, nut-producing mature tree.  Amazingly though, in only one month’s time, we can witness the large-budded seedling double in size and produce an array of beautiful compound leaves.  It is one of the reasons I believe in miracles!