Monstrous Black Walnut Traditional Cache

Monstrous Black Walnut is in Montgomery Park in Dryden. Designated parking in the park, off Elm St. a short distance beyond GZ.

As usual, find more cache info at the bottom of the page and BYOP.

Black Walnut

Juglans nigra

Practicality and aesthetics combine in the black walnut to make this species one of the most treasured trees in American history. The valuable dark brown wood is strong with a handsome grain that polishes easily and gleams forever. And the rich, flavorful nuts are enjoyed fresh and retain their flavor and texture during cooking.

Whether you love it more for the stunning wood or the delicious nuts, it is an upstanding tree.

Black walnut (Juglans nigra), also called eastern black walnut and American walnut, is one of the scarcest and most coveted native hardwoods. Small natural groves frequently found in mixed forests on moist alluvial soils have been heavily logged. The fine straight-grained wood made prize pieces of solid furniture and gunstocks. As the supply diminishes, the remaining quality black walnut is used primarily for veneer. The distinctive tasting nuts are in demand for baked goods and ice cream, but people must be quick to harvest them before the squirrels. The shells are ground for use in many products.

The black walnut tree is one of our most valuable and beautiful native trees, but it does have a “dark side,” too. 

The easily worked, close-grained wood of the black walnut has long been prized by furniture- and cabinetmakers for its attractive color and exceptional durability. Its logs are in such demand for veneer that “walnut rustlers” have made off with trees in the dead of night and even used helicopters in their operations.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BLACK WALNUT TREES

The early settlers discovered black walnuts growing in mixed forests from Canada to northern Florida and west to the Great Plains. They found that its rich-brown heartwood was exceptionally resistant to decay and put it to use as fence posts, poles, shingles, and sills.

When surrounded by other trees in the forest, black walnut grows straight and tall with few, if any, lower branches.

When planted in the open, the tree will branch out closer to the ground, developing a spreading shape that makes it easier to harvest its sweet, round, two- to three-inch nuts.

The settlers snacked on the nutritious nuts out of hand, added them to soups and stews, and ground them into meal for baking; the hard shells provided a perfect package for storing the nuts over winter.

THE “DARK SIDE” OF BLACK WALNUTS

Unfortunately, the black walnut’s roots, which may extend 50 feet or more from the trunk, do exude a natural herbicide known as juglone that prevents many plants from growing within their reach. 

Tomatoes, potatoes, apples, pears, berries, and some landscape plants such as rhododendrons, azaleas, and lilacs may be killed or stunted if grown in close proximity to black walnut roots.

A GREAT SHADE TREE

In spite of this, black walnuts make great shade trees for larger properties. They commonly grow to 50 feet or taller and about as wide, and specimens of more than 100 feet have been recorded.

Black walnut’s large, fernlike foliage provides light, airy shade for those grasses and ground covers not affected by juglone. In autumn, the leaves turn bright yellow, contrasting nicely with the tree’s rugged, dark bark.

Black walnuts require a deep, fertile soil with a near-neutral or slightly acidic pH. They are pretty much disease-free and are threatened by few pests, with the exception of perhaps an occasional helicopter.

A wide-branched tree reaching heights between 70 and 150 feet, the Black Walnut does well in open fields, on sloped land and a diversity of planting sites so long as the soil is well drained and nutrient dense.

The beautiful dark brown color of its bark makes black walnut wood the most sought after wood in the world. The tree's nickname, 'American Walnut' is no fluke. Our forefathers adorned their homes, crafted barns and built fences with wood made from the black walnut. The leaflets, as large as some trees leaves, are dwarfed by the leaves themselves, which can grow up to a mammoth two feet long. And let's not forget the nut.

The thick, black husk that gives the tree its name serves as ample protection for a round, savory fruit packed with flavor. The tree yields a nut so rich and delicious, it can be enjoyed right out of the shell, baked in deserts or crushed and topped on your favorite ice cream. With an abundant autumn harvest, a single tree can produce hundreds of nuts in just one season.

Here you can find more about Black Walnut from my other cache:

<https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC6P8P4_black-walnut>

The cache is a tied in, camoed “micro” pill bottle, that you have to push hard to open and close. Please BYOP and put back the log with the rubber band to hold it, and seal the plastic bag.

It’s not on the big tree, but hidden among the boxelder leaves, not Poison Ivy.