Tag: Southern Live Oak

The Angel Oak Tree

One of the attractions in Charleston, South Carolina is an old, oak tree named the Angel Oak Tree. I’m not sure how it got its name…maybe because of its huge canopy of overarching branches offering protection. It is a Southern live oak, which is different than your “ordinary oak” tree.

Photo of a promotional video from the breakfast room.

“The Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), also known simply as the live oak, gets its name from the fact that, unlike other oaks, it doesn’t lose its leaves in the autumn. Live oaks are native to the Southeastern coast of the United States.”*

The massive trunk of the Angel Oak tree.

We like trees and decided to drive the extra miles out of town, to visit this majestic tree. It did not disappoint. Surprisingly, it is down a rutty, dirt road.

Warning signs were posted many places along the chainlink fence surrounding the tree.

We knew we had arrived when we saw a high, chainlink fence outlining the circumference of the tree, with signs saying this property is protected and patrolled. We noticed the surveillance cameras too. The area is free and open to the public during the day, but closed and gated at night. 

Gary standing near the Angel Oak tree.

This is all good. We contrasted this to the Sycamore Gap tree next to Hadrian’s Wall where we hiked last fall, in England. That sycamore tree stood tall and majestic also, and was 200-300 years old, standing alone in the gap, for anyone to enjoy. A national treasure, for Great Britian. Unfortunately, two weeks after we sat under that beautiful Sycamore tree, vandals came and cut it down! Hopefully that will not happen to the Angel Oak Tree in South Carolina.

Large branches touching the ground.
Looking out from the trunk at this branch on the ground.

The Angel Oak tree is a national treasure. It is 300-400 years old…some estimate even older. They say the tree is 65 feet high with a trunk circumference of 25.5 feet, shading an area of 17,000 square feet. Of course, I couldn’t capture the whole tree in one photo…but I did take several photos.

The beautiful red cardinal singing for us.

The Angel Oak tree was worth the extra effort to find. A cardinal serenaded us from a different tree, but he added extra joy to our experience. A new baby tree has been sprouted from an acorn from the Angel Oak tree. It is three years old and grows in a pot next to the trunk, under the protecting branches of its mama.

This Baby Angel was planted in 2018 from an acorn fallen from the Angel Oak Tree.
Me and the big tree and the baby tree.
A magnificent stately tree.

Think of all this tree has lived through. Ah, the stories it could tell.

*Wikipedia

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.

The grey-green moss dripping from southern live oaks.

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. 

A majestic southern live oak tree.

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.

Spanish Moss on a southern live oak.

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.

A beautiful, sprawling southern live oak tree.

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.

Orleans Square in Savannah.

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.

A mile long avenue of southern live oak creating a canopy overhead.

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