Still Confused by Seasons in Texas

The oak leaves are falling, but there are no apples in the orchard.
The oaks are turning golden but there are no pumpkins on the porch. Rather there are lambs frisking about, birds building their nests and butterflies filling the air. How weird is all this for a displaced Yankee! March and time to get the rake out!

But that is the cycle of the Live Oak. How naïve of me to think, “Hey Live Oaks, always green, I guess I won’t have to rake in Texas”. Silly me, of course pines that are “evergreen” shed their needles once a year, and clearly these oaks weren’t planning on keeping the same leaf for the 200 plus years of their life, so March is when the change out occurs. I heard they would just, WUMP, all fall off at once, and with all the trees I have hanging over this Titanic size deck (its true that absolutely everything is bigger in Texas) I would have a lot of raking to do. But they didn’t WUMP, instead they are making a lovely swishing sound and because they are small leaves they really look rather lovely on the deck, so multi-colored.

I know I keep going on about the beauty of these oaks but they really are something. If you have been anywhere in the south you have seem them festooned with Spanish moss. Here they are a home to Ball Moss that would make you think you had a zillion nests in your tree for from a distance that is what they look like. But it is an epiphyte that hangs on to the tree but does no harm and provides a home for countless insects. There are even celebrity Live Oaks scattered about the country. Maybe you are familiar with the Live Oak in Louisburg, LA that is said to be over 1,000 yrs old,
or the one in Aluchua, Fl that is 85’ high and able to be seen from space!

And how do you like this for a historical fact I have to relearn. I, as a good Bostonian, always knew that Old Ironsides was made from such tough oak that the cannonballs wouldn’t penetrate thereby giving it its name of Ironsides. But, in my provincial New England way I assumed it was made from a local New England variety of oak. But no, even though it was built it Boston they used, you guessed it, Live Oak from St. Simmons Island in GA. So, there you go, you learn something new everyday!

At any rate, I have said before that the Live oaks out this large window that I am typing in front of were the reason I chose this house, and they have not disappointed. The stove-top doesn’t work well and, once again, the smell of sulfur has returned to the hot water but the oaks have remained glorious. And bless them; their acorns are also home to Curculio beetles that I love to teach kids about. I haven’t picked up an acorn yet that doesn’t have the telltale hole in it. And, a wasp gall rather like our Oak apple gall on the Cape, parasitizes these oaks so I have so many wonderful artifacts right in my own backyard that I can use when working at the nature center.

But, raking in March, that will still take some getting used to. And too hot for hot cider. But we humans are supposed to be adaptable creatures so I will do my best. Raking will need to wait though for I bought my tomato plants today and need to get them in the ground. In MARCH! At best, I was planting one potato on St. Patrick’s Day on the Cape, now the whole garden needs to be by the Ides of March! Crazy eh? And again today it is close to 80 tomorrow a high in the 50’s. Maybe I should hold off on those tomatoes after all.