Ongoing Series - Trees of Note
The first warm sunny day beckoned and I headed straight to this amazing sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima) in Lafayette Square. You are one stunning tree! I looked up into its branches and just had to see if my simple camera could capture the amazing way the branches reach up in perfect relationship to each other with the cerulean blue sky as background. Click. Alas, what the camera captures is just a hint of how beautiful this tree really is.
How did I choose my favorite tree? It’s hard to separate a great tree from a great place. When I think of Washington I think of a great capital city with the requisite tourists and public spaces. The sawtooth oak is a beautiful and grand tree – perfectly placed near the northwest entrance of the park.
How many Washingtonians and tourists alike have stopped over the years as I have to admire this tree? I’m happy to share my find for all others to enjoy too. Just don’t expect your camera to be able to fully capture this beauty!
Visit this Tree of Note!
Lafayette Park, Pennsylvania Avenue and Jackson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20006
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Sawtooth Oak 101:
- Location - native to eastern Asia, widely planted in the eastern North America
- Crown - rounded, broad, pyramidal shape
- Height - 35' - 45'
- Foliage - 4"-8" blades, oblong, alternate
- Color - bright yellow-green in the spring; turns a showy yellow to dull brown in the fall
- Fruit - bitter acorns that attract squirrels and birds
- Bark - gray-brown and deeply furrowed
- Landscape use - shade, street tree, buffer strips, large parking lot islands, tolerant of urban pollution
Nominate a Tree of Note. All individuals that nominate a Tree of Note on the Casey Trees Map by Arbor Day on Friday, April 30 will be entered to win a signed copy of City of Trees by Melanie Choukas-Bradley.
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