NOLA Flora & Fauna 024 - Washington Oaks

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Live Oak post 4682.

There are many oak-lined streets in New Orleans. The river side of Washington makes an especially fantastic canopy. The "opening" you see at the focal point where the tree lines end is basically the river (or at least the port on the river). You can't actually see or get to the river in all of uptown (save ferry crossings) because it is blocked by port warehouses and trains.

NOLA Flora & Fauna 017 - Oak Wires

Please click on the image for a larger, more-detailed version.I am just certain that these wires were strung under this branch like this.
I highly doubt the branch moved and pulled them taut. These are not "primary wires", i.e. from the electric company. These are phone and or cable.

NOLA Flora & Fauna 013 - Climbing Philodendron

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This is a climbing species of philodendron (or Pathos) making its way up an Oak tree. There is significant differentiation in leaf shape as it climbs higher.
This is something you see more commonly in Miami or Hawaii. I still get excited when I run across one in New Orleans.

Junking this up with lights and plastics signs and plastic owls is definitely not tacky. Wouldn't you love to have this thing dwarfing your house?

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NOLA Flora & Fauna 006 - Leaning Oak

Please click on the image for a larger, more-detailed version.I promise I will get away from the Oak trees soon. I think I could have a whole album called "New Orleans Live Oaks" separate from the "Flora & Fauna", and have a paragraph to write about each one.

This tree is in the Garden District, at 7th and Prytania. I took this photo in March of '06, when Katrina / Rita cleanup was being executed with reckless fervor and wild abandon.

You see that there is a note affixed to the tree. It is in a clear plastic 3-ring binder sleeve to protect it from the weather and it reads:

ATTENTION:

DO NOT REMOVE THIS TREE.

THIS TREE HAS BEEN LEANING IN THIS MANNER FOR OVER 50 YEARS AND DID NOT MOVE OR TAKE ON ITS CURRENT POSITION AS A CONSEQUENCE OF WINDS SUSTAINED BY HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA.

FURTHER IN LATE OCTOBER 2005, THIS TREE WAS INSPECTED BY A LICENSED ARBORIST EMPLOYED WITH BAYOU TREE SERVICE, INC. WHO DETERMINED THAT THE TREE WAS HEALTHY AND POSED NO THREAT OF FALLING OVER.

SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT THE OWNER OF 1506 SEVENTH ST. AT 585-XXXX OR 451-XXXX.

THANK YOU

Eloquent; concise; polite; stern.

Just as some businesses survived all of the weather disasters of 2005, yet still had to close because the customer base moved away, imagine the panic these people felt to have this amazing tree that survived not only the 4 major hurricanes of the past century, but untold numbers of storms in the century or centuries before that, at risk of being brought to the ground by some mouth-breathing government worker.

I suspect that if the author had his or her 'druthers, they'd quit their job and stand sentry on that upper gallery with a shotgun. I would.

There are thousands of these trees in New Orleans and the city and private citizens pay lots and lots and lots of money to keep them healthy, mostly to Bayou Tree Service, Inc. I see their trucks everywhere, always.

And that's good.


Also in this photo: along the fence across Prytania Street you see a handful of elections signs. In the Mayoral election following the storms, there were literally dozens of people vying. You couldn't swing a dead cat anywhere in NOLA without hitting some kind of campaign propaganda.

NOLA by professional photographers 004 - Dunham Farms

Live Oaks & Azaleas.

I have no idea where this photo came from, so I can't give a proper photographer credit. And I'm not even sure it's New Orleans. This could be Savannah, for all I know. But I've seen places like this in New Orleans and feel it represents it properly, anyway.

Perception is reality. I've learned this from my politicians, who thankfully know better than I. Like, Oral sex isn't sex and the French Quarter doesn't have to stink--

Remember when New Orleans Mayoral candidate Kimberly Williamson Butler's website featured pictures of her in the French Quarter (except it was the much cleaner French Quarter in Disneyland)? Yeah, me either. But it happened.

THIS is an AWESOME story:

If Kimberly Williamson-Butler actually wins this election, should they hold the victory party at the Blue Bayou?

It is SO New Orleans politics.

I mean really, can you even GET a photograph in the real French Quarter without someone in the background vomiting? OK, I don't know how the Hell I got here from a lovely Azalea hedge, but that's how it goes.

Addendum:
2 minutes of research tells me that this is likely Dunham Farms in Georgia- wouldn't you know it, right outside of Savannah.


In the "New Orleans as photographed by professional photographers" posts, every photo is owned by a professional. These low-res reproductions will hopefully entice you to seek out the originals. I will include all contact information whenever possible.

NOLA Flora & Fauna 005 Carrolton Oak

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Today's pic is a 3-parter. This is a lovely Live Oak on Carrolton Avenue. You've surely noticed by now that this album will be absolutely lousy with Oak trees. But they are truly breath-taking.
This is how you notice that New Orleans has seasons: Brown, crunchy moss or lush, green moss.

NOLA Flora & Fauna 002 - Sidewalk Roots

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In the Gulf South, nature wins every time. It will overwhelm you. Should man leave this place, all trace would vanish, be swallowed whole in moments. Allowing us to live there is a gracious act. But in the mean time if a tree decides you don't get a sidewalk, you don't get a sidewalk.

NOLA Flora & Fauna 001 - Oak with Spanish Moss

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You don't see too many trees full of Spanish Moss any more. Maybe Katrina & Rita washed it away. This Live Oak is on Constance Street between Henry Clay & Calhoun, right by Audubon Park. The brick wall you see is the South wall of Saint Clare's Monastery. Behind the tree is the The John J. Hainkel, Jr. Home and Rehabilitation Center.