Our Oak

The oak in front of our house was planted about the time the house was built – so it is about 25 years old.  It is near the mailbox and drops leaves, acorns, and self-pruned twigs on our driveway as well as the yard. I notice it more in the fall because of the increase in debris. The wind has been blowing a lot the last few days so leaves are flying – some clearly ready to be jettisoned

And some still brilliantly green.

The tree still looks mostly green – but the foliage is less dense.

A few years ago I planted day lilies around the base of the trunk. Their green fringe looks nice through the summer and into the fall. They never get a chance to bloom because the deer eat the buds just before they open!

Over the years, the bark has become more deeply furrowed and acquired lichen. The tree is aging well. The lower branches that the county cut last spring so that fire trucks would not be damaged coming into our neighborhood in an emergency have not been missed; if anything – the tree green a bit more than usual this past summer.

It is big enough to shade the front of the house in the summer time. I’m glad it is a deciduous tree so that the front of the house gets warmed by the sun in the winter.

I picked up some acorns from the driveway. It is not a heavy year for acorns. I recall one year when it seemed like we had a carpet of acorns and my daughter collected bags of them to donate for a riparian restoration project in our area.

In an earlier year – before we moved to this house - my daughter and I collected acorns from another oak when she was in pre-school. We made a garland my gluing acorns and their hats together around a piece of gold thread. We left them in a bin for the glue to dry before we put them on the tree. When we came back the next day – little worms had come out of the acorns!