The Easter Egg Tree

When I was a little girl we used to visit Cherry Hill Farm, which while technically in North Beverly, straddled the Danvers line.

One year when I couldn’t have been more than five or six, as my reluctant-to-participate-in-anything father sat in the car, Mom and I went strolling along a grassy area to look at assorted shrubs, wildflowers and trees. A long winter was finally behind us and it was so nice to be out and enjoying nature. The birds singing, plants growing, cows mooing in the distance, all were harbingers of spring.

We happened upon an odd looking little tree with branches that held small pastel-colored fruit that looked like Easter eggs. I remember that Mom was amazed too, having never seen such a thing. We had a lengthy discussion about how the Easter egg tree came to be there and what the meaning behind it was. At that age I would still have been enchanted with the idea of fairies, elves, gnomes or any sort of magic creatures that might have planted the unusual specimen. All right, I confess since many of you know this about me already, I’m still enchanted with fairies, elves and gnomes and magic, but as I thought about writing this article, I decided to use logic and research to find an answer that would hold water.

I discovered that the Park Seed Company sells seeds to grow an Easter Egg Plant and from the photos I could see that this must indeed be what we had found so many years ago. This is the exact information listed on Park Seed:

Bright Fruits Look Exactly Like Easter Eggs!

Amaze the neighborhood children with a summer visit from the Easter Bunny!

Who says Mother Nature hasn't got a sense of humor? You really won't believe Easter Eggplant until you grow it and watch the fruit develop for yourself--it begins white, looking for all the world like a bunch of hen's eggs, and then matures to deep pastel cream, yellow, orange, and even green! Just 12 inches high, the petite plants can sport a dozen “eggs” in a season!

No trouble to grow in any sunny, well-drained spot, Easter Eggplant is actually a member of the Potato family, with wide, lush green foliage protecting the fruit. It is an uncommon delight for the summer garden, and a constant source of wonder to children and the young at heart! Pkt is 25 seeds.

Now if you’ve read that carefully, you see my dilemma. My theory that this answer is indeed the one that holds water has just been blown out of the water.

The plant blooms in the summer, not the spring, which is when we saw one. Also it is only 12 inches high.  Therefore, the seeds that Park sells are not likely to produce anything close to the height of a tree at all, unless you are one of the aforementioned fairies, elves, gnomes or other sprites; 12 inches might seem tree-size to them. I’ve researched it as much as I plan to. I choose to believe it was a magical Easter egg tree, most likely planted by the Easter bunny himself. And by the way, I refuse to call Easter eggs “spring spheres” as has been suggested of late in various media circles.

I was delighted to have e-mail from Danvers Patch reader Paula C. Noyes after she read my article, “Under Mysterious Circumstances,” last week. Paula knows all about the Mill Pond ducks having been a member of the family (the Watters) who took care of the ducks for many years, including the duck named “Red” who I mentioned. Red belonged to Eunice Watters and although he preferred the safety of the shop next to the house, Paula herself put Red into the Mill Pond a couple of times a year. Paula let me know that baby ducks come all set to float and that no one has to oil them as I had reported based on my mother's notes.  To quote this lovely lady, I now have the correct information from “the proverbial duck’s mouth.” I am always so happy to hear from Patch readers with the informative and entertaining information they have to share.

Speaking of Easter, I’ve been asking around about the Easter baskets and candy and eggs we got in Danvers as children. I’m certain that I had one or two from Putnam Pantry over the years, and most likely also from the candy store on the block that now is the home of the Atrium (in Danvers Square). I think that was Connolly’s Fudge, but I’m not entirely confident that the name is correct.

I’d love to hear from readers about their Easter memories in Danvers, not only where your goodies came from, but what your family traditions were. My sister was grown and off to college by the time I was four, so I was pretty much an only child. Mom and I would have visited relatives, such as the Liljas on Burroughs Street and the Whites on Putnam Street. We may or may not have attended church, as that was an irregularly scheduled activity, but if we went it was to the .