Oaks are worth spending some time reviewing because of their wide range of species. At the last survey of literature, we find there are 31 different oaks that can call Texas home. Apparently, oaks can make hybrids rather easily.
We all know a Texas Red Oak when we see it, but how about a Monterey or Mexican Oak, Quercus polymorpha. Can you spot one of those? These trees are not native to our specific area, but are native at higher elevations in the Big Bend area. That means if you want one of these fine oaks, you need to buy it at the nursery and plant it. Beyond the hedge of rosemary beloved by the bees, here is one we planted 7 years ago from a small seedling.
It’s the tree on the right, at about 8 feet tall. It was planted as a one year old with a trunk about the size of a pencil. What is unique about this oak is that it retains many of its leaves through most of the winter. That is a red oak to the left.
Another good looking oak is the Lacey Blue Oak, Quercus laceyi. When mature, the leaves actually have a bluish cast to the green. We planted two this last fall, but they need almost daily watering to stay alive in this heat and lack of rain. They do well naturally in counties to the west of here. These trees apparently like calcareous soils, and even though they are said to be drought tolerant, they do need more water than we would think a drought tolerant plant would need.
These thirty one species of oaks provide endless opportunities to study the variations. For example, in Ward County, near Monahans ---there is an oak identified as a separate species. It’s the Havard Shin Oak, Quercus havardii , that can grow to 25’ under ideal conditions. There in the sand dunes, it produces 6’ high thickets with normal to large acorns. Its sand stabilizing roots can descend 90 feet in search of water. The name Havard comes from the person credited with first identifying this tree, Valery Havard, a French a botanist and surgeon with the U.S. Medical Corps.
The Bur Oak, Quercus macrocarpa, is a fine tree, not very common here, but seen in bottom lands where there is a bit more ground water and open sky. Bur Oaks grow slowly and don’t adapt well in a forested competition with other trees. The acorns are large and since this is a tree of the white oak family, the acorns have a much lower tannin level. You can even make acorn bread with them after leaching the tannin from the acorn. Bur oaks are so valuable that I would plant the acorns rather than eat them.
There are two oak trees that one might consider to be the commonly called red oak. These two species of red oak typify the oak’s ability to hybridize. One is the Texas Oak, Quercus buckleyi, a tree that grows to about 50 feet and the other is the Shumard Oak, Quercus shumardii. This tree has leaves very similar to the Texas Oak, but the tree grows to greater heights, perhaps even 100 feet. The leaves are so similar that it takes an expert to detect the difference.
Plateau Live oaks, Quercus fusiformis, are our dominant tree species. Once considered by botanists to be a varietal form of the more familiar Old South and East Texas Quercus virginiana it now has been assigned a classification of its own due to the fact that it thrives in our dry, limestone soil.
The Cedar Elm, Ulmus crassifolia, is another good tree for this area. However, it prefers more moisture, so you will find this tree in the gullies where it gets more water than on the hilltop. A good stand of these trees runs consistently through the gully that parallels Hugo Road. From a distance, these trees can be spotted easily in the late fall because their leaves turn yellow then brown before dropping from the tree. These trees can tolerate dry conditions, but they sure do prefer the areas of more water. Below is a photo of a cedar elm planted from seed about 10 years ago.
Trees provide wood for many uses. The settlers used the wood from the cedar elm for tools such as mallets because the wood is so hard and dense. My sawyer contacts will tell you that cedar elm dulls a saw blade faster than oak or mesquite.
Surprisingly, the general area once had a lot of black walnut trees. These valuable trees went the way of the black bear and the bison with an aggressive hunt for them. The New Braunfels area once had many large black walnut trees along the river bottoms. The Germans were good at woodworking and literally cleared the area of walnut trees to make Biedermeier style furniture. You can see some of this furniture and the tools that were used over 100 years ago by visiting this museum on the north side of New Braunfels.
The museum featured on the card is at the rear of the property. Up close to the road is a collection of restored buildings from the area creating a small village. Both are worth the time to visit.
The mill where we buy wood tells us that there are still some very large walnut trees in the San Marcos area, along the San Marcos River where they can get the water they need.
Although our area has essentially no pecan trees, they are common to the east of I-35 where they actually have dirt in which to grow. Pecan trees grow to a very large diameter and last for many years, producing crops of pecans for wildlife and people. Pecan wood is valuable as a furniture wood. Sawmills rarely will cut a live tree for wood as blow-downs provide plenty of material to be sawed into useable wood. In fact, some pecan trees are so large and heavy, the saw mill is transported to the tree and reassembled to bandsaw it along its length.
Just as winter is the time to peruse seed catalogues and plan spring gardens, summer with its scorching heat is the time to plan for adding trees and shrubs to the landscape in the late fall and early winter.
Sightings
This little American green tree frog, Hyla cinera, is a common backyard species that is popular as a pet. We noticed this one on an outdoor chair in the breezeway, but overnight it found a more comfortable spot on a potted amaryllis.
We have noticed a doe now and then during the day near the house and R was sure she was either pregnant or had a fawn secreted somewhere nearby. He went to remove the loosely coiled fence he’d put around the flowering yuccas last week and there was a small fawn lying in the sun just inside the fence. R came to the house to get me and we both wondered how to get her outside the fence and out of the sun. She stirred, saw us, jumped up and threw herself against the fence trying to get away. Lordy, lordy, what a todo! We talked quietly to her and she calmed down a bit. Then she found and wormed her way through the narrow opening that she’d entered. We left her peering at us from behind a tree. She obviously wasn’t going to tell Mom that she’d wandered away from the safe, shady spot she’d been left. Now if she could just find it.
A pair of Summer Tanagers, Piranga ruba and a juvenile showed up the other day. I saw the female first; a greenish–yellow back with gold below. Later the bright red male appeared; the size of a cardinal with a heavy beak but missing the crest and black mask. The juvenile male came to a tragic end against a kitchen window and we found him later on the back porch. He had a red head and splotched red breast.
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyus americanus, is one of my favorite birds. And I’m always glad to hear him chortling in the treetops when he returns from winter quarters. The word is that their numbers are diminishing throughout much of their range in the U.S. If you see one consider yourself lucky as they are secretive and stick to the tops of large trees.
The Common Poorwill, Phalaenoptilus nuttallii is another bird that is usually heard but not seen. The smallest of our nightjars, its song is also shorter ( poor-will-ip, the ip only heard close up) than its relatives, the Chuck-wills–widow and the Whip-poor-will. We hear him calling from a leafy spot where he lies hidden in the woods.
Follow up bird note: Our bluebirds have fledged and the backyard is lit up with additional flashes of bright blue.
Check out the following great local site for excellent pictures of birds, butterflies and new trails. The Hays Master Naturalist website has it all in their June newsletter. See it at: haysmn.org.
The bathing birds. All the birds come to the bird baths for drinks, but three species we’ve noticed go a step further. The Cardinals, Painted buntings and Lesser gold finches plow into the water with purpose and splash around with abandon.
From right to left: a male Painted Bunting on the rim of the birdbath, under him in the water is the olive-colored female, also in the water is a titmouse flailing around and above it on the rim is a male Lesser goldfinch. The little brown bird to his left on the inside of the rim is too indistinct for me to identify.
The following two insects were observed on a hall window in the morning obviously taking a break from their positions in the cicada chorus.
Homoptera cicadidae has locally emerged from his underground root feeding to procreate and die. The males are singing their high-pitched song to attract females. This courtship went on all day.
Books
I was alerted to an interesting book on trees by a March article in the Smithsonian Magazine titled “Do Trees Talk to Each Other?” by Richard Grant. Grant’s article is in essence an interview of a German forest manager, Peter Wohlleben, who lives with his wife in a cabin near Hummel. His book The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate has become a best seller in Germany and 11 other countries including the U.S. and Canada. Other scientists are becoming more involved in this study; for and against the idea. For those interested, Mr. Wohlleben’s book is available at the Wimberley Village Library.
R & D Tusch
