Spanish Moss

Spanish Moss

Most people in the southern states know and understand Spanish moss.  Most visitors from the northern states don’t.

When I think of my first visits to Florida as a child, images of Spanish moss swaying in the trees are as strong as my memories of sandy beaches. Maybe stronger. 

Spanish Moss
in the Magnolia Tree

Mike and I were talking about how we used to play with Spanish moss. He and his buddies would stuff a feed sack with it, tie it to rope, hang it from a tree, and make a swing out of it. 

I remember playing dress-up with it, using it as a stole or wig to be a gray headed woman.

We both remember the results of playing with Spanish moss: Redbug bites. And boy would they itch!

Spanish moss was at one time used to stuff furniture and car seats. I hope they cured it properly. I can’t imagine sleeping on a moss stuffed mattress.

When Tom and I were both in college and poor newlyweds, we looked at Spanish moss as an opportunity. The house where we lived sat quietly on a tree covered acre of land. We gathered the moss, picked out all the twigs, stuffed it in plastic bags and let it “cure.” Supposedly, the redbugs would die in a month or so without oxygen. I really don’t know that to be a fact. But that’s what we did.

Tom and I had a couple of florists who occasionally bought the moss from us for a dollar a bag. We’d save the money until we had enough for McDonalds. We called it our eating out money. 

In some ways that feels like a long time ago in a galaxy far away. This month…This year…marks the ten-year anniversary of Tom’s death.

When I married Mike in 2023, I left Ohio and moved back to Florida. His house was surrounded by big oak trees. Each tree wore a garland of Spanish moss. I loved to sit on the porch and watch the moss sway in the southern breeze.

 

Soon, we moved to our own home in Inverness, Florida. A place to build new memories and enjoy life together. We left the Lutz moss behind. No worries. We had plenty of moss at our new house.

Evening.
Moss in the Trees. 
Sunset Over the Water.

As I said, most people in the southern states know and understand Spanish moss.  

Most visitors from the northern states don’t.

Spanish moss is beautiful hanging from the trees. And yes, it is the home to redbugs. But when you have hurricane force winds blow it down, it is a bear to clean up. 

We’ve cleaned up after each storm this season, but Milton’s powerful winds brought down more moss than I had ever seen in our yard before. We raked piles of the stuff. If we cured it as Tom and I did in the old days, Mike and I could eat at McDonalds for weeks. 

I’m glad we’re beyond those days. 

And I know we are blessed. We had moss to contend with along with a few tree limbs. People elsewhere are trying to find their houses. Or what is left of them. We were without power overnight. Some are still living in shelters. The Waters’ family home in Lutz is surrounded by downed trees, including a hundred-year-old cypress tree the storm chose to pick up like a toothpick and spit out into the lake.

But as Mike reminded me, every morning we look out over the lake as we eat breakfast. We watch the moss swaying in the morning breeze, the sun glistening on the water and we are grateful. Grateful to enjoy our little corner of “old Florida.” Spanish moss and all.