In love with atmospheric Spanish moss

Anyone who has traveled in the southern United States will have noticed the beautiful, atmospheric Spanish moss that graces the oak trees there.

Whenever I return, it never fails to make me smile. I love it in the daytime. I love it at night, when it adds an air of mystery. And I love it swinging gently in the breeze.

I lived and worked for a year in southern Georgia, and I remember so clearly all the Spanish moss laden trees surrounding where I lived.

I remember being surprised that it is, technically, part of the pineapple taxonomic family. I also learned that the beautiful, wispy moss quickly shrivels up and dies when removed from the trees. This was a lesson I learned when I put a small amount in a basket I had at my entrance, and those fluffy, light green tendrils quickly turned brittle and brown.

For Spanish moss is an air plant, and it makes its home on the oak tree to absorb the air, and, apparently water it can store for long periods, from its vantage point.

So on our drive this summer through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, I loved being able to – once again – admire this beautiful Spanish moss fluttering in the breeze.