Spanish Moss and Southern Live Oaks

It hangs like icicles dripping from the trees…not a certain type of tree, but any tree. And it’s everywhere in Savannah, Georgia, where we took a mini road trip from our base in North Carolina.

I admit it took me awhile to come to appreciate the appeal of these plants but I now think Spanish moss is a beautiful sight. It is not Spanish, nor is it moss. Its name is derived from French settlers naming it Spanish beard and later it became Spanish moss.

Spanish moss is a member of the bromeliad family, an epiphyte, or air plant. It uses trees only for support, but gets its nourishment from air, sun, and rain. It does not hurt the trees it grows on. 

And even more beautiful is when you see the Spanish moss hanging in the southern live oak trees. The Southern live oaks are majestic trees. Although usually identified as evergreens, because live oaks retain their leaves nearly year-round, they are not true evergreens. Live oaks drop their leaves immediately before new leaves emerge in the spring. The leaves do not resemble the oak leaves we find in Minnesota.

Southern live oaks grow to about 50 feet in height, with large looming branches hanging low and spreading far and wide, its limbs may spread out 100 feet or more.

They can grow to be several hundred years old. They are the official state tree of Georgia. Southern live oaks are magnificent trees, and found all over Savannah, and the deep south we’ve read. They are picturesque.

At one historic place we visited, Wormsloe, there was an avenue of southern live oaks lining each side of the road for one mile, forming a canopy overhead. I was in awe as we drove through this exquisite scene.

This is one of the prominent features I will remember about our enchanting trip to Savannah, Georgia: Spanish moss and Southern live oaks.