Friday, February 26, 2010

The Red Love Seeds

These are red love seeds.

I've been collecting them for the last couple of weeks to help put some color in our home.

A lot of the ladies in our neighborhood have been collecting them too. They gather thousands of them and put them in clear vases, candle holders and other decorative containers. It's a cheap and easy way to bring a pop of color into your room.

The seeds are hard, shiny and bright red in color (in case you're blind and can't see the photo). You can only find these seeds in this area of the world though. They come from the Saga Seed Tree which is commonly found in India, China and various regions of Southeast Asia.

The tree has long green pods that grow from the branches and in the Spring, the pods dry up and break open, releasing the red seeds all over the ground.

The locals call them red love seeds because red is the color of love and when you pick them from the ground, you're also supposed to gather thoughts of the one you love.

You know what I think about when I pick them up?

1. Holy crap, my back hurts from bending over and picking up these frickin' seeds.
2. I really hope no one is looking out their window at my big butt in the air.
3. It would really suck if a snake scared the bejesus out of me and made me drop all these seeds.
4. Isn't there a red love seed store?
5. My vase is gonna look awesome when I'm done picking these up in five years.

I spent 30 minutes back behind my house yesterday picking these things up off the ground. This morning when I woke up, my hamstrings were sore.

Explain that to me.

I've been going to spinning class since November and I don't get sore until I spend 30 minutes picking up seeds!

What is that about?!

For more info about the seeds, their uses and why the heck I'd even care about them, here's some sites:

The Red Love Seeds

Saga Seed Tree

Wikipedia: Saga (tree)

9 comments:

Brad Farless said...

I laughed when I saw you use the word "pop". It reminds me of all the jokes and comments web page designers make about clients saying the page has "pop" and has to "wow us". Ha ha!

I recognized the tree from your description. I've actually almost been brained by one of the pods. The whole thing fell off the tree and landed right in front of me. I wonder what it would have meant if it had hit me?

I can jog 4 miles straight now and still feel pretty spiffy at the end of my run, but I still get tired going up flights of stairs. Funny how that works isn't it?

Travis said...

If someone is blind, not only would they not see the picture of the red seeds, they also would not see the sentence describing them and the notation that it was to help out the blind.

Yes, this is being a smartass by me. I know it's a figure of speech. Sometimes I just like to point out the literal side of things.

Cori said...

I swear I thought this whole blog was a joke. I kept waiting for the punch line that "Ha ha, these are my fave American candy---red skittles."
I think I need more sleep.

Beau Lotus 涟 said...

Are those colonial bungalows we see in the background?

ursie said...

I love those! They're super hard to find in Singapore though, you lucky girl! Which is why I only managed to find three in these past five years. Then again I could be looking in the wrong place.. Or not even trying at all.

Always good to stock up on them though, I know this lady who makes really pretty jewelry with them at Toy Outpost (Vivocity). If I remember correctly, her cubicle was somewhere in the left row; she could be gone by now though, who knows.

She had this really pretty necklace which looked something like this but cost way more: http://www.theriverkidsshop.com/products/seeds-of-love-necklace.
Sadly they've yet to restock. ):

Not sure if that's your kinda thing, but oh well, thought I might just share it with you.

Megan said...

Beau, you're right. Those are the Colonial Black and Whites in the photo. They're so pretty, aren't they? They're some of my favorite structures in Singapore.

Ursie, thanks for the info! I read online that people make jewelry out of them, but had no idea that anyone in Singapore did. I'd be happy to tell you where to find the love seeds, but I'm going to wait until after I leave. :) I don't want anyone jacking my stash since I only have 2 months to gather the rest. I'm a selfish brat sometimes. I apologize.

ursie said...

Haha I understand, it's cool; I live on the opposite end of Singapore anyway LOL.

amused said...

Saga trees are very common in Singapore. There are more than enough seeds in the island to fill up your collections. LOL

YUN ZHEN! said...

I heard Bishan Park had a few. But never got a chance to confirm though.