What Do You Do With A Sea Of Oak Leaves?

   Most people have it in their heads that Southern Live Oak Trees never lose their leaves.  In a sense, they are evergreens...somewhat...but not really.  They do drop all of their leaves within just a couple of weeks during early spring.  When the Southern Live Oak Tree is the most common tree in your yard (think dozens of these huge trees) and they all drop leaves at one time, you wind up with a literal sea of leaves. For the past few weeks, we have been wading through leaves to get to the front door.  By wading, I mean the leaves were at least a foot deep and in some places more.  When you think of the raking that would involve, you try to find other means of disposing of the leaves.  I did. 

  This past week found me pushing the lawnmower just to cut leaves.  This was quite the undertaking as the mountains just did not want to disappear!  I cut.  I cut some more.  Then...I cut some more.  Finally, the leaves were down to a fine mulch that would sift through the fingers with ease.  A lot of this mulch was hauled into the gardens where it will nourish the plants.  The rest was used in the pathways. 

  While I am glad that the leaves near the front of the house are all mulched, there are still three sides of the yard yet to do.  I figure I should be done sometime next year...just before the next dropping of foliage from the oak trees!  Oh, geez!  I hope not!  Seriously, give me another week and all of the gardens and paths will be filled with the fine mulch provided by these trees.  If I had to buy this lovely stuff, I would go broke!  Why buy when it is free for the taking?  I shall keep pushing that mower!  Good exercise...free mulch...pretty gardens...it is a win/win situation, if you ask me.

Little Pink Dots

   The recent storm that decided to miss us altogether and wreak havoc on Alabama and Florida did not even so much as knock down the dead limbs that I had hoped would happen.  Instead, there is little to no cleanup at all.  The Bayou was spared the wrath.  My heart lies with those dealing with the aftermath, however.  The cleanup will take months.  It is always heartbreaking to me as I know first hand what a hurricane can bring...and can take.  

  The only "limbs" down are tiny twigs.  While out clearing Pebble Creek that runs to Puddle Pond, I noticed that most of the twigs were from the live oak trees on the west side of the house.  Gathering them, I could see that a lot of the leaves had tiny, pink balls attached.  Aww, Mother Nature was decorating again!  These little "balls" are actually called galls and are the works of the Gall Wasp, also known as Gallflies.  The females lay their eggs on the oak leaf and soon the gall forms.  There is some question as to whether the larva forms the gall or if it is a reaction to the egg laying process.  Each little round dot contains a single larva that will be nourished and protected by the gall, itself.  Most Gall Wasps around here prefer the live oak trees as nurseries for their little ones. 

  While a lot of folks would be panic-stricken that their trees are "infested" with an "unsightly mess", this is not the case.  The galls do not hurt the tree in the least and if folks would truly take the time to view and understand the galls, they would come to see that all of nature is beautiful...galls included.  Mother Nature knows what she is doing.