Shady Rest
One day we went here:
And we sat under here:
The tree had bark like this:
And leaves like this:
And acorns like this:
We've sat in the shade of this tree many times. I'm pretty sure it is a Northern Red Oak. They are common throughout Missouri, and all of the tell-tale qualities of a Red Oak are seen here.
The acorns, I think, are immature. The guidebook I have says that they take two years to mature, and the green part should be much larger than the cap atop them, so I'll visit this branch again and see how things are progressing.
Some of the leaves are being bedeviled by a skeletonizer bug:
The damage was confined to only these few leaves (as far as I could see anyway), and the tree seems otherwise quite robust and happy. I think we can expect to spend many more hours under this tree.
Missouri calendar:
- With nesting completed, herons and egrets disperse.
August 16th, 2006 at 5:28 am
Tentatively I’d say you’re right. And congratulations – I love our northern red oaks and to have that as well as white oaks is great!
Nice skeletonized leaves too!
August 16th, 2006 at 8:33 am
inqiuring readers want a picture of a skeletonizer bug.
August 16th, 2006 at 9:51 am
I like the welcome sign on the tree – I presume it’s your creation?
August 16th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
This post had a very Rurality feel to it.
Purposeful? Or has she bewitched you?
August 16th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
Wayne – Over at Fallen Timbers we had a few years when all of the red oaks seem to be falling after dying abruptly. No so much lately.
Roger – You’ll have to rely on someone who knows what he/she is talking about for that kind of photo.
Hal – Not my creation. I bought it for her after she had one made for me.
FC – Not intentional, but I see the influence. I’ve learned so much from her that I call Rurality by gateway blog.
August 17th, 2006 at 4:38 am
Pablo – my dad (a former forester) told me that northern red oaks often kick the bucket unpredictably. Most of ours grow down along the steep slope just above the little creek and may be eventually undermined by the water flow.
August 17th, 2006 at 11:25 am
I like the sign on the tree. I can just see it hanging for hundreds of years, a sign from the past to the future.
August 31st, 2006 at 10:57 pm
[...] From Roundrock Journal, Pablo shares one of his favourite Shady Rest spots with us. [...]