Lignumvitae Flowers

Our Lignumvitae tree ("Tree of Life") is exploding with beautiful purple/blue flowers right now! It is so awesome! It is my favorite tree in our yard!  It is very slow growing.  We planted it when we first moved into the house.  It has a very unique trunk that is "bonsai-like" in the way that it grows into crooked, neat shapes.  The Lignumvitae tree has extremely hard, heavy wood that is said to be the second heaviest in the world! The wood won't float - sinking quickly in water - and I've read that it is impossible to drive a nail through it!  The wood used to be harvested to make bearings for submarines in WW2 and is still valued for ship propeller shaft bearings, bowling balls, pulleys, neck bearings, and machine parts because it has such a great high content (30%), non-contaminated, self lubricating resin.  The resin is also useful for treating arthritis! Cool, right?  Unfortunately that's why this amazing tree is an endangered species... I had to take a close-up picture of one of the many beautiful, star-like flowers on this fabulous tree.