Chinese Oaks in Jungle Gardens producing acorns

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The two old Chinese Oak trees located on the grassy hill near the Buddha Circle are producing acorns for the first time in three years.

I have watched these two exotic oak trees growing in Jungle Gardens now for 3 consecutive years and this is the only year during in which both trees show some serious acorn production.

Last year one of the trees, the Red Bark Oak, (Quercus gilva) did have small acorns but they never fully developed and all of them eventually aborted at a very small size. The failure to grow to any appreciable size suggested the flowers had not been suitably pollinated. That same season the nearby Bamboo Oak (Quercus myrsinifolia) showed no signs of any acorn production.

Yesterday I visited both trees and much to my surprise there is a considerable number of acorns on both trees and they are large. The acorns I saw yesterday are much larger and more numerous than any I saw last year. I don’t know what conditions might have prompted pollination but it appears both might produce a crop of nuts this year.

I will be monitoring their progress very closely.