Mexican plum, 19”L x 8”W x 6.5”H.

This is one of two unique bowls I was able to rescue from the trunk of a large Mexican plum tree. These are normally relatively small, short-lived trees that produce beautiful white blooms in the spring and small yellow-to-red plums that make excellent jam in the fall. This particular long-suffering tree had been attacked by wood-boring insect grubs, wood ants, and heart rot but had held by maintaining live sap wood along one side of the trunk, supporting a few scraggly branches that heroically produced a few flowers in the spring. Finally felled by wind, I discovered it in time to fend off the angry wood ants and cut two sections from the side of the trunk that had resisted the heart rot. The effects of the poor tree’s tribulations can clearly be seen in the dark heart wood in the interior of the bowl, which could use a good home displaying ripe fruit or dried plant material.