Favorite Tree Friday: The Southern Red Oak

Each month an Arbor Day Foundation staff member shares their favorite tree. We have taken our Favorite Tree Friday series and invited guest bloggers to share their favorite tree with us. This month Maria LaRosa from The Weather Channel tells us why she loves the southern red oak.

While I have so many types of trees I love, I have a specific tree I love the most: the southern red oak in my backyard.

Every chance I have, I stand out on my deck and watch this big, beautiful oak provide season after season.

In

the winter, its plentiful branches still manage to give the privacy you lose when all the leaves fall. In the spring, it's the anchor for our backyard zip line–I have three boys and that strong trunk can handle them and their friends. It also serves as a perch for a family of eastern phoebes who nest under my deck. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent watching them go from nest to tree and back as they hunt for insects for their babies. By summer, it extends its lovely shade so the hot sun feels a little less hot, and it becomes a perch for the hummingbirds returning to town for the season. I watch these hummingbirds sit and wait on its branches as they decide whether or not they'll visit the two feeders I have on my deck. Of course in the fall, I love watching the leaves drop in a nice, breeze-like snow.

We had a tree doctor come check on the health of this tree recently because it had several dead branches. My husband was also nervous about its dramatic lean over the yard, as if it was ready to topple. I was hoping it was its way of reaching for more sun. In fact, I love that its top is one of the first spots in the canopy to feel the morning sun. Well, the tree knows best: it is reaching for the sky and has extra trunk thickness at the bottom on one side to support it! The tree doctor gave it a stellar bill of health, I was so relieved!

I think of this southern red oak like a much-loved family member. I know it will remain a fixture in my yard for years to come!