wedding treeFagaceae
posted 03/02/11 - No, it wasn't our anniversary when we visited this tree back on February 20, 2011. That was the first sunny day after a week of nonstop rain and we wanted to take full advantage of the nicer weather and get outside. I'll admit I'm a bit sad to see this magnificent tree decline. Other valley oaks (Quercus lobata) were already sprouting new leaves, so I suspect this tree may not have much to show anymore in terms of its own growth. Andy was kind enough to point out to me that the dead branches are now supporting a variety of life, including numerous fence lizards, an unknown nest (shown in the first pic), and numerous fungi, mosses, and lichen. It's the cycle of life. I'm sure we'll visit our tree again come April 8th.
3 comments:
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I'm not so sure that tree is dead. See all those fine thin branch tips - if the tree was dead, those usually break off during the winter storms and certainly within the first year of weathering. If the tips get swelling buds in the next few weeks, then it is alive. Also, you can lightly scratch the thin bark on the small stems and if green shows up where you scratched the outside grey/brown coat off, it's alive! It seems like trees just keep growing and growing until they just get too massive and then they shed parts like big old branches, but many still have decades of life left in the rest of their body. Don't you wish you could age like that? And we worry about wrinkles, hahah. Lovely oak, lovely bark and lovely photos.
Cindy, we'll be visiting again by early April and will see how this old tree is doing then. I do wish I could drop old branches to lighten my load. I'm not so much worried about wrinkles as I am age spots from all the years in the sun.
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