Who Wants to See A Beautiful Scene

The new leaves were just coming out on this tree. It is the Quercus virginiana.

that is so beautiful- what a huge grandpa of a tree- the azaleas in the back ground look so tiny in comparison!

Thanks LOL. How does it (the Quercus) develope that large branching? does it take 200yrs to reach this? The tree must shed a lot of laterals to establish that monster limb. Is there a lot of branches at the end of the year on the ground?

WOW!!! The tree is just awesome! Is that spanish moss on it?
Really a grandaddy.....Lucky you...........

Sofer, no, the tree does not shed any limbs. If you prune a young Quercus virginiana as you want it to look , the lower branches will grow just as they are. The lateral lower branches may twist and curve depending on which way it wishes to receive light. Some of them curve downward and touch the ground. That is a main characteristic of the live oak--it is short and spreading. I tell people if they do not have the space or do not want a spreading tree, then plant a palm tree or an upright oak. Here in Louisiana the dummies in the highway department planted live oaks in the median of the interstate then got angry when they spread their limbs into the roadway. Resulting in-------a waste of beautiful trees.
The live oak, being short and squat when it is fully mature, can withstand hurricane winds better than any tree. People were saved during Hurricane Katrina by clinging to live oaks. One man tells the story of how he kissed a branch of a live oak for four hours, hanging on for his life, while wind and water raged around him.
Most of our live oaks in New Orleans withstood Katrina. If it were not for our oaks at the moment, New Orleans would be naked indeed.

I wondered how they got that dominate lateral and twisted look. Thank you LOL

These oaks are about 150 years old. The lower limbs have been cut off. The oaks form an allee' and when in full leaf look like a cathedral. This is an allee' in St. Francisville, Louisiana.

Your guys in Louisiana have a tough time with english. We call that a driveway in the north land. And we don't have to do the french thing until we go to Quebec. Bon Jour.

Stunning pictures. Thanks for sharing. I wish I had a driveway like that.

Thanks for the pictures! I miss the old live oaks in my childhood hometown, Aiken, SC, right on the border with Georgia. I don't, however, miss the humidity, not that we don't have humidity in NJ, but it's not as hot here, so it's not as bad.

Anyway, didn't mean to digress from the real issue -- the beautiful pictures. Thanks again.

--Joulz

Soferdig, it only becomes an allee' (as in the famous Louisiana plantation Oak Alley) when it has trees on both sides and perhaps protecting it on top. Otherwise it is just a plain old driveway. I am such a traditionalist that I try to hang on to the old terms and phrases.
This is a photo of some of our oldest oaks in New Orleans in City Park, which has over 1,000 live oaks. They took a beating in the hurricane and sat in water for almost three weeks but they survived.

That is beautiful but why cut the lower laterals in a park? Can't people weave there way around them in a sinuous path. Much more the pleasure. I have been talking to my DW this morning about Live oaks and she has never seen any. I told her I am getting a large print of one and framing it in our guest suite. She was impressed. Our old white oaks in Michigan are spectacular but rather straight with their laterals.

Such a surreal beauty! Thanks for sharing. I don't think I've ever seen the glory of live oaks before. I would really like to visit the deep south just to see them in person.

Scott

Liveoaklady, we have the same problem here with city planners planting them in little tiny street medians and parking lot islands. They never seem to live long before they start looking stressed. Then they get ripped out and replaced by another one. I have even seen people cut the tops out of mature live oaks, like they think they are going to fall over or something. People do some crazy things.

Stupid is as stupid does. Life is like a box of city planners you never know what you'll get.

Your live oak photos are lovely and bring back fond memories of my childhood on the outskirts of New Orleans. There was an old cow pasture near us which had a giant live oak in it that had never been pruned. Its branches were long and thick and touched the ground on the outside circumference of the tree making a hiding place inside. As kids we could walk up the branches into the tree.Also there was a rope tied high up and hanging down. We could swing on it and play tarzan. I could ride my bike to this tree and spent many an hour there.

As an adult I was appalled when the oak succumbed to a subdivision.
Betty

Hey LOL, where is that first tree you posted? Do I know that one? It looks familiar, but eventually they all begin to look alike unless you see them often enough to recognize their little pimples and warts!

Guy S.

Guy, the first tree posted in at Afton Villa in St. Francisville, Louisiana in the Feliciana Parishes. It is owned by that wonderful "southern lady" I wanted you to meet.

OK, then I guess I'll have to come down there again!
Her name was Ali, right?
Guy S.

I said "lady", Guy.

Oh. Yeah.

As a long time observer of your threads and discussions I would have to think two possibilities: One you two were once married or You are Brother and Sister. LOL
Oh the trees that we know by their pimples and warts are the best friends we will ever have. At least I feel that way. Thank goodness that my farming childhood home area is still a farming community and no development has dropped any of my friends. Only time has called a few to that happy Aluvial Forest in the Sky.

Liveoaklady,
That's soooo beautiful, that's home for me! My mother grew up around New Iberia, and my Dad around Church Pt. I love Louisiana! Those are the best climbing trees there are! The elite if you will. Your picture makes me miss my Maw maw and Paw paw even more! Especially her wonderful cooking! I try to bring the good Southern cooking up here but it's not the same. Certainly no crawfish.

Guy, tell the truth. You and I met over the telephone when I became chairman of the Live Oak Society. You are the founding president of the International Oak Society. We immediately became friends. Then, you and Edie visited us in Louisiana and we toured the oaks in the area around New Orleans (with police escort, of course,) and we went to "Christmas in the Oaks" together in City Park. We're just two lucky people who happened upon each other and share a common interest.
However, sometimes I really could ring your neck.

OK now I know the history. I would have guessed brother and sister though. Oh well. It is good to share an interest in Oaks.