Silk Saga - The Mulberry Tree

Since it is absolutely essential to have access to Mulberry trees in order to raise silkworms, well, you can guess. Yes, the first thing we did was plant a couple of Mulberry trees.

The mulberry tree originated in east Asia. Some trees bear fruit, others trees are fruitless. The fruit can be red, dark purple or white. The white fruit is green when immature and the red & dark purple fruits are white when immature. These fruit-bearing trees are not popular in landscaping for several reasons, the fruit is messy, and stains, it attracts many birds, also messy and that problem is compounded by the fact that birds eat mulberries & leave droppings that stain.

It is the fruitless Mulberry tree that is most often cultivated for the food for silkworms since they eat only Mulberry leaves (Morus alba being the most popular food). These trees grow rapidly at first, but eventually slow down and do not get higher that about 50 feet. They make wonderful shade but, like most big-leafed deciduous trees, they mean lots of raking in the fall. The leaves of the fruitless mulberry can be quite varied, some sort of heart-shaped and others three lobed.

There is also a weeping mulberry like the one pictured above. We have both.

Note: I believe that I did read somewhere of a Eucalyptus that some silkworms will eat, but I cannot find that info now. A concentrated Mulberry food can also be purchased.

Clue:

Start at the Bywater Park sign.

Note the Number on the sign.

cross the street to the west and walk north on the side walk. You will pass a short fence walkway that leads to another street. Staying on the original sidewalk, go to the (Number on Sign) Park bench. Sit and rest or just enjoy the view of the nice park and mountains. To you left you should see (Number on the sign) trees.

Stad by the northernmost tree and face North. On you left you will see a metal fence post. Count 2 times the (Number on sign) and find the box under the fence on the west side at the base of the post. ENJOY!