I live in the prairies of North Texas – there’s not a lot here that like… if you’re from a place with forests, what we have here barely counts as trees. There’s some scrub oak and pecan, but it’s not really “woods”. My house is in a neighborhood that’s just kind of smack out in a tiny town that’s 5 miles off the freeway in Bumblefuck, and it’s basically just grass out here.
There’s some short scrubby stuff that grows on the sides of the road, etc., and bigger trees where there’s available water by the river and the better running creeks – and that’s about it.
But when they put in my development, they planted some oaks and pecans and other things, ostensibly as “decorative” trees, one of which is an oak that lives in my front yard. The only tree on my property. Of course, my house is a rental, so all I have to go on is “yeah that’s an oak tree.”
Which it definitely is!
I did a bunch of research, and I’d narrowed it down to being either a pin oak or a scarlet oak – most likely (by the shape) a scarlet oak. But there was no way to tell until autumn when the leaves turned which it was. And now, in mid-November, we have finally had some cool nights. Last night we actually had a freeze for the first time, so SOME trees are starting to turn colors? Most trees in NTX just get golden and then turn brown, buuuuuut…
This is Sally
She’s named for Sally Whitemane – a Crusader in World of Warcraft’s Scarlet Crusade and a prominent boss in the Scarlet Monastery dungeon’s Cathedral.
She is almost assuredly a Scarlet Oak, and I can’t wait until she’s in full color.
