The Oak Project

This little fellow is a brand-new baby valley oak, Quercus lobata, which I started from an acorn. The valley oak is the largest North American oak, and in my opinion overall the most beautiful, with its vertically striated bark, broad twisting and gnarled branch architecture, and pleasingly rounded lobed leaves. Unlike our other mighty California oak, the live oak, lobata is deciduous, and every spring even the most massive giant is covered in the glowing new greenery of this photo. This particular acorn spent several months mulling it over before deciding to hoist its shoot and make a go of it. My success rate with home-grown oaks is poor, but I sure like the looks of this one.