Water Oaks of Jacksonville Florida

Have you heard of the water oak? The water oak is also known as spotted oak or possum oak and grows in sandy soils. In Jacksonville, Florida you can find a lot of water oaks. The life of a water oak can be 60 to 80 years.

Silversmith Lane Water Oak on Van

When a water oak decides "it is done living," its death can be rather sudden! That was the case with the large water oak on Silversmith Lane in Jacksonville, Florida. We had no warning! That water oak just up and died; i.e., it totally uprooted itself. On August 13, 2009, my then hubby had to deal with the uprooted water oak that landed on his tenant's van. Thankfully nobody was hurt. Check out that water oak in my Flickr album, Water Oak Tree is No More!

Perhaps because of that untimely experience with a water oak, I was not feeling so secure about the 3 multiple large water oaks in my backyard.

Water Oaks in my Backyard Before

Jacksonville, Florida was seriously spared, or dodged a big bullet, when Tropical Storm Beryl hit us as a TS and not a hurricane. Those winds were still mighty strong and were whipping around the water oaks outside my bedroom window. I had difficulty sleeping for a couple of nights.

Next, along came Tropical Storm Debby! While the winds weren't as strong as TS Beryl, the rains were heavier and more constant, causing a lot of flooding for people. I made the decision really after TS Beryl to have the water oaks taken out before they fell on the house. Because TS Debby had just hit us, the tree company was backed up with work and couldn't get to me until July 6th.

Camden and Son showed up at 8am on Friday, July 6th. It was a 10-hour full day working on those 3 water oaks. Originally, we planned on them taking out the 2 multiple water oaks. The third was added to the project that day.

Only the Water Oak Stumps Remain

It was pretty amazing to watch Josh, John and Tony work whilst the two gals cleaned up. Josh is the climber and John is his trainee. Those guys have it down to a science. It was impressive to see and hear those trees hit the ground and land as expected. I've never observed such a major tree job as this.

I am awaiting a visit from the stump grinder later this week. You can plainly see that one large water oak remains. This water oak is located on the fault line of the drainage ditch that drains into a creek that drains ultimately into the river. Behind that are major power lines. If that water oak elects to fall towards the ditch, I'm not sure it won't take out the power lines. Now, if that water oak opts to fall the other way, well that's me and my house! I will be saying a few prayers so that it isn't a replay of the Silversmith Lane Water Oak.

If you live in the Jacksonville, Florida area and need a good referral for tree people, I recommend Camden and Son. You can give Diane Camden a call at 904-434-4030 or 904-346-5424. Be sure to tell Diane that JaguarJulie referred you!