Champions

[pweifan]

Wow! Where is this tree? Near you in Houston?

 

[markyscott]

Wow! Where is this tree? Near you in Houston?

Waimea, Kauai.

S

 

[markyscott]

I don’t know if it’s a champion, but it’s one of the biggest banyan trees I’ve ever been next to. From aerial root to aerial root in opposite sides of the trunk the tree spans 105’. The diameter of the central trunk (really just a fused collection of hundreds of aerial roots) is approximately 35’. So the circumference is approximately 110’. The width is about 210’ and the height about 110’. Here are some pictures:
View attachment 195412View attachment 195413

Better lighting

 

[markyscott]

Not a champion tree, but the biggest Staghorn fern I’ve ever seen. And it’s in my back yard!



The rootmass is about 6’ across and it weighs around 250 lbs.

S

 

[Dav4]

Not a champion tree, but the biggest Staghorn fern I’ve ever seen. And it’s in my back yard!

View attachment 197210
Texas sized accent I guess???
The rootmass is about 6’ across and it weighs around 250 lbs.

S

Texas sized accent I guess???

 

[markyscott]

I understand the Sallier Oak in Lake Charles survived the latest hurricane. Glad to hear it - that’s a tree with some historical chops.

Explore Lake Charles, Louisiana, For A Fun-Filled Weekend In Nature

From picturesque riverbanks to shoreside casinos to a scenic byway that's nearly 200 miles long, Lake Charles, Louisiana, has it all.

www.southernliving.com

 

[bwaynef]

Here’s the Centennial Oak, the largest Bur Oak in the state of SC, in Clemson, SC.

 

[bwaynef]

Here’s a bad shot of the Angel Oak, near Charleston, SC. Apologies for the awful pictures. This tree is amazing. Lots of “presence.” It’s said to cast a shadow on an acre of land. (Picture from a brief stop on the way home from a trip with my son and 9000 kids from across the district. That’s what it felt like anyway.)

 

[bwaynef]

Here’s a bad shot of the Angel Oak, near Charleston, SC. Apologies for the awful pictures.

This one's from a few years prior. We had the place (almost) to ourselves. Here's a hastily-converted-to-black-and-white-many-moons-ago picture. The originals aren't easily accessible right now.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I discovered I have a "champion" or near champion, on the farm, 10 miles east of South Haven, Michigan. Its a Red Oak, Quercus rubra. It is only 5 inches smaller in circumference than the Shuettes Oak in Oakland Co. Michigan, posted previously in this thread.

220 inches circumference. Its about 50 to 75 feet tall, give or take, the height is an eyeball guess based on 3 story farmhouse nearby. It not registered, nor will it be, as we don't want outside organizations trying to interfere with farm decisions. We do plan to keep it.

Various web based estimates of age based on circumference give results from 280 years old to 490 years old. I would probably claim roughly 350 to 400 years old. Will probably never find out, as we have no intention of cutting it down to count the rings. If it is hollow, that makes even counting rings impossible.

 

[markyscott]

Chalk up another tragedy for 2020. Fires have reached 14 of the 50 largest sequoia and hundreds of thousands of old growth trees.

 

[Clicio]

Ficus on the streets of Sao Paulo

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Chalk up another tragedy for 2020. Fires have reached 14 of the 50 largest sequoia and hundreds of thousands of old growth trees.

We'll have to wait to see, but as a rule sequoias don't burn. The large trees have bark that can be 3' thick, and they may have survived dozens of fires. It is pretty rare for fire to take one down. They have actually evolved to need fire to reproduce. Their seed cones don't open unless heated by flames, so that the seedlings will germinate in cleared forest floor.

 

[markyscott]

We'll have to wait to see, but as a rule sequoias don't burn. The large trees have bark that can be 3' thick, and they may have survived dozens of fires. It is pretty rare for fire to take one down. They have actually evolved to need fire to reproduce. Their seed cones don't open unless heated by flames, so that the seedlings will germinate in cleared forest floor.

View attachment 329240

Hopefully, they’ll survive another.

- S

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Back on the theme of champions, here is what I believe to be the tallest oak in North America. It is a California valley oak, Quercus lobata. I have three valley oak pre-bonsai, and also just recently obtained ten of them to plant in my landscape. If you want a big white oak, fast, this is your tree:

 

[Graft]

We'll have to wait to see, but as a rule sequoias don't burn. The large trees have bark that can be 3' thick, and they may have survived dozens of fires. It is pretty rare for fire to take one down. They have actually evolved to need fire to reproduce. Their seed cones don't open unless heated by flames, so that the seedlings will germinate in cleared forest floor.

View attachment 329240

View attachment 329241

No Good, it's got reverse taper

 

[markyscott]

Back on the theme of champions, here is what I believe to be the tallest oak in North America. It is a California valley oak, Quercus lobata. I have three valley oak pre-bonsai, and also just recently obtained ten of them to plant in my landscape. If you want a big white oak, fast, this is your tree:

View attachment 329242

That’s great - apparently Valley Oak grow well in North Carolina?

S

 

[Bonsai Nut]

That’s great - apparently Valley Oak grow well in North Carolina?

S

So far, so good. They certainly grow better here than in Southern California - with its crappy, alkaline irrigation water! I will wait to see how they make it through the winter, though (depending which reference you use) valley oak is supposed to be cold hardy down to zone 6A and I'm in 7B. They were deciduous for me even in zone 10A in Orange County. Once established in landscape, they grow 4' per year(!) For such a large tree, the leaves are relatively small, and it handles defoliation extremely well... in fact, it is almost required to defoliate several times per summer to keep the tree from running away on you.

 

[Arcto]

On a sad note today, the Washington state champion Pacific Madrone was cut down. The tree had been in decline for a number of years in spite of efforts to improve it. The last couple of years only one lower branch remained alive. It succumbed this fall. The tree was estimated to be 400 years old. 85’ tall.

 

[markyscott]

Virginia state champion tulip poplar. This is on private property, so it’s not easy to get on to see it. Also, some unusual characteristics for a poplar. Looks like it’s multi trunked - perhaps individual trees that fused? Low branches and a curved trunk. Very impressive.