Backyard Wisdom

by Master, ISA certified arborists  Gilbert A. Smith

Driving south in October the fall color was in its early stages. In Wisconsin the colors were dramatic but the Tennessee trees had time to dawdle.  However, just south of Birmingham Alabama the fall color stopped altogether and we crossed over into the land of eternal summer.

Live Oak

The Live Oak is so named because it is a tree that is native to the southern climates of the United States and is actually “evergreen”.  We encountered this tree, up close and personal, for the first time, while on our bike ride through Louisiana this fall. Often graced with the softening effects of the spanish moss that hung from its branch tips and the ferns that would grow along its massive horizontal branches, it is without question a quintessential example of enduring arboreal beauty.  While riding one day I stopped and photographed the tree shown here and paced off its size.  It has a 125 foot branch spread and its trunk was 10 feet in diameter!  It made me reflect on the fact that it was alive and probably quite large at the birth of our nation.  A conservative estimate of its age would be between 350 and 450 years old and I felt quite humbled standing below its massive canopy.

The Live Oak was used for ship building and starting in 1799 large stands of southern land covered in Live Oak were purchased by the federal government for naval purposes. The Oak, it has been said, can be compared to our dog friends in its place as man’s companion. Throughout Europe and North America the Oak has a long history of deep religious and magical significance.