The weather was sure nice for a late November day planting Garry Oak seedlings at Maxwelton Farm on southern Whidbey Island. 13 Garry oak seedlings were planted, and two more will be tucked into a nearby location in the coming days. Enthusiastic volunteers, about 17, showed up to help, plus two huge dogs that were big enough to harness and pull a supply cart, should they have wanted to!
Hello!
This is so exciting!
Down here on Anderson Island (Southernmost island in Puget Sound), we have quite a population of oaks.
Perhaps 200 in all, though nobody ever thought of counting them.
The south end of the island with its heavy clay soil seems to be where they thrive the best.
We also have lots of Poison Oak, some “old growth” to maybe 6 inches in diameter!
My son recently purchased a property with maybe 30 oaks on it . . . located at Thompson Cove at the very south end of the island.
One of his trees fell over two years ago.
It appeared to have a rotten, hollow spot at the base, but I was hopeful that higher up it would be sound so that we could mill some boards from it.
Alas! The rotten core extended about 12 feet up from the base.
My friend Dianne Avey is a descendent of the John Ekenstam pioneer family which settled this property in 1878.
(Ekenstam = “Oak Branch” in Swedish).
Naturally, she imagined, and had been told, that her ancestors planted all the oak trees (of course from acorns they brought from Sweden).
I heat with wood, so cut the trunk up into firewood . . . . boy was that swell!
When I got higher up on the trunk, I very painstakingly counted the growth rings.
340! There went my friend’s fantasy up in smoke.
There are several trees the same size and I imagine they are all about that age.
Do you think that is a typical age for the older trees?
We have one magnificent tree at the Petterson Homestead on East Oro Bay, which my family purchased in 1950.
The trunk is straight and clear for about 12 feet . . . I never bothered to measure it but it is at least 5 feet in diameter.
The crown is symmetrical and a sight to behold. But I’ve never seen any acorns that I can remember.
A nearby neighbor had a similar tree blow down just down the beach from us, and he had the tree milled to make boards, which are gorgeous.
A Seattle Furniture Maker made a gigantic (17 feet long?) conference table for our Historical Society Library and Board Room from these planks.
Last year there were few acorns at my son’s place, but I managed to get a few to sprout.
I just didn’t take care of them soon enough and they all died.
This year there was a bumper crop of big, beautiful acorns.
I have about 100 of them sprouting in the refrigerator.
I’m planning to plant a grove on a neglected hay field on the Petterson farm. Maybe 2 acres or so.
Anyway, sorry to just ramble on. I’ll join your society and perhaps can get an Anderson Island Chapter started . . . a sister organization.
Keep up the good work. This is really exciting.