I’m following a tree with Lucy at Loose and Leafy. The 7th of each month is set aside for those taking part in Tree Following to post an update on their tree. I’m actually a few days late with my post — but that’s okay! — because anyone interested in joining Lucy has until the 14th of each month to let everyone know what’s been happening with their tree. Join in if you haven’t already!
My tree — a Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii) — looks basically the same as it did last month. Not a lot is going on with it right now! Maybe it’s filled in a little more? Kind of hard to tell.
I’ve been really surprised that no birds or squirrels have made this tree their home (at least as far as I can tell). We have two other Shumard Oaks and they’re teeming with wildlife. Perhaps as this one continues to grow it will attract a following!
Since the tree itself hasn’t really undergone any noticeable changes, I decided to focus on it’s leaves, fruit and bark this month.
It appears that small acorns have begun to form! Their small, dark masses are apparent on the right in the photo below, nestled within a mass of glowing leaves.
Here is a closer view of the forming acorns.
Last month I posted a photo of a gall that had formed on one of the tree’s leaves (one of many, actually!). The gall is still there and, like the tree itself, hasn’t shown any obvious changes.
Various fungi appeared on the trunk of my tree during our wet, wet, wet month of May. Here are a couple photos that appear to show some lichen and perhaps some small dark-colored mushrooms.
The mushrooms are on the right in the top photo and on the left in the bottom photo. These enchanting organisms have all disappeared as dry, hot weather has set in.
That does it for this month’s Tree Following post! To join in, head over to Lucy’s website Loose and Leafy.
The Transmutational Garden 
Love your trees (and mine, too!). I’m glad you have a picture of the oak gall, as they are ubiquitous in shumards. I notice lots of smaller, dead branches on one of my Shumards, but not the other. Have you noticed this in any of yours?
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I really love having these trees, too. They’re just wonderful! We seem to get the small dead branches and twigs every year. Usually a big wind will blow them down. I’m not sure if it has something to do with how dry its been over the last few years or if its just normal. They do get awfully thick and bushy once the leaves are all out, so maybe all the branches don’t get enough sun and some die off?
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It might not have changed much but it has lovely leaves your tree, mine now is covered in woolly aphids !
Amanda xx
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Ugh, aphids. We get them on our Crepe Myrtles. Sometimes the sticky stuff that falls from the leaves almost looks like rain coming down!
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An enjoyable, and interesting, post. I wonder why no wildlife is apparently resident in view of your comments about the other Shumard Oaks. xx
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Good question, I wonder that, too! Could be the human activity around it?
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what lovely bright leaves on your oak, and a good close up of the acorns, I like the lichen and bark photos too, very textural, glad you got some rain at last, Frances
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I really enjoy lichen and mosses wherever they’re found. And yes, YAY for the rain! It was so needed.
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Fascinating bark and beautiful foliage.
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I agree! I really like the bark. I wish I could post how it “feels”.
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It looks very healthy!
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It’s been enjoying the weather.:) Plus these trees are very hardy and grow in many different soil types, don’t mind the heat or cold, etc. A very good tree to have around! I’ve never seen a dead one…
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Neat photo of “glowing leaves” … I like the mix of shadow and light, especially the way the leaf margins are lit up.
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I think leaves look beautiful that way, with the sun rippling through them.
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It’s a beautiful tree and the leaves are so fresh and green even into summer!
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They get darker green as the summer heats up, but they have quite a beautiful color early in the year. We’ve been unseasonably cool and rainy so far this year, so perhaps that’s been keeping them rejuvenated!
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Beautiful images – I’m not familiar with this particular species, although I would recognise it as a Quercus from the leaf shape, and I would expect it to be a lovely red in autumn – we have something similar in front of our city railway station here in Cardiff.
A trick of the light almost made the lichen on the bark seem rainbow-coloured when I first looked at your pictures. Pretty, anyway.
All the best 🙂
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The leaves do turn very pretty shades of red and orange in the early winter. Hopefully I’ll get some good photos of them at that time. 🙂
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It was wonderful to have lichen and fungi showing up here during our wet May, wasn’t it! Great shots and I’m betting it will all be back once we get to cooler wetter times of the year. That is interesting that you have the one oak that doesn’t have nests or a lot of wildlife activity. Perhaps it is some sort of shared resource, or potentially simply isn’t populated yet? I’ll be looking to hear more…
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I don’t know the reason. The squirrels do romp through the tree on their way to another tree or to the roof of the house, and the goldfinches liked it during the winter because their feeders hung from it, but during the summer there are no nests. Maybe the birds don’t nest there because there’s human activity so close to it during the day.
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Lovely tree, it’s not an Oak I know but like all oaks it’s magnificent.
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Quite right!
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Very cute, the little acorns!
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Yes, they have a lot of growing to do!
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