Why I Oughta...

2024 is one of the years where our large, mature Red Oak trees aren't holding their leaves late into Winter.  This year, they've dropped MOST of them already - by December 1st.  I've posted about these two backyard Oak trees - the Tree Swing Oak and the southside Oak - over the years - documenting how much foliar marcescence takes places.   This year - here are a couple of photos showing the canopy of these trees on December 1st:  mostly bare. Here is December 6, 2019 - when the Oaks were holding TONS of leaves .   Here is November 23, 2020 - when the trees (both of them) had dropped all their leaves . Here is December 2, 2021 - when the tree swing tree was holding leaves .   Here is November 22, 2023 - when they were FULL of brown leaves .  

I recently posted an update on the grown-from-seed tree seedlings that I've been nurturing for the past few years and included the oak trees that are from acorns that I collected last Fall .  Last year, I collected a variety of tree species - various oaks, chestnuts and even an Illinois Pecan and stashed them in the fridge to cold stratify.    That lead me to what I'd describe as 'mixed' results.  I have had quite a few seeds turn into seedlings, but because it was a mixed-bag, I am (somewhat) guessing on the variety of the tree and where I picked it from (a park?  Our block? Up in Wisconsin?) when I took the acorns.   But, I've enjoyed that seedling-growing process.  So, this year, I'm simplifying things.  I'm only going to keep ONE variety of acorns over winter.  What tree is that, you might be asking?  The answer is:  I'm not sure.   But, I do, indeed, know that it is a columnar oak tree that is planted along Mapl...

I collected a couple handfuls of Oak tree acorns (pretty sure they are from a Red Oak) as a project to see if I could work into seedlings next Spring.  There's a lot of info out there about how to plant Oak trees from acorns, but this YouTube video was the most helpful for me .  It isn't super fast-moving, but if you have the time, it is a nice overview.  The steps of growing your own trees start with collecting acorns.  From there, you have to test them for viability - using the 'float test'.   After cleaning them up (removing their tops), you dump them in a bucket of water.  The ones that float aren't viable.  The ones that sink...usually ARE viable.  (the video recommends doing a couple of float tests to be sure...) So, after collecting these acorns, I dumped them into a bucket.  And...not ONE of them appears to be viable.  All floaters. I noticed that most of them have these little in holes on the sides of the acorn.  See t...

Yesterday, I posted a photo in the garden diary of the recently set buds on our very small caliper Northern Red Oak tree that was planted just this year.  In that post, I mentioned that both *that* young Oak tree AS WELL AS our two larger, more mature Oaks have lost all of their leaves.   Notable, I think - as we're seeing a very different timeline than last Fall/Winter.   I posted this photo of both of the mature Oak trees in our backyard on December 16th 2019 - a little bit under a year ago - showing that both of the trees had A LOT of their leaves clinging to the limbs.  At the time, I poked around a little bit into the concept of foliar marcescence and how it might be a behavior that is aimed at assisting the tree by retaining some of the leaves until Spring to be used as an organic material delivery system when the tree needs it.  Here's what those two same trees look like right now:  barren. Wonder what caused this change year-over-year....

The leaves have come off of our Oak trees.  The large ones have just a few clinging on, but this tiny one that I planted this year is naked.  This was planted back in May of 2020 and seemed to do just fine back in this location.   The larger trees looked like this all the way into December - thanks to foliar marcescence.  That now has me thinking that I should get a post up in the [garden diary] showing the leaves being off the Oaks by late November this year.  But, back to this small Northern Red Oak tree - and the buds in has set in particular.  Like the other trees in this [tree buds] series, these ones are unique ( thanks Rutherford Platt !) and have some unique characteristics.  First, the color - is what I'd call caramel.  Reminds me of the newish high-end vehicle interiors that you are seeing.  Kind of like a brand new, unused football.  They're also pointy.  In the image below, you can see how there are three of them ...