The Tallest Oak of Valkenberg

The register itself calls this the tallest pedunculate oak in Valkenberg, which is a real claim rather than a guess, since somebody with the right instrument had to measure every registered oak in the park to say so. Quercus robur is the oak native to this part of Europe, the one an acorn falling in October will grow into if left alone, and Valkenberg has several registered specimens. This one has simply outgrown its neighbours, reaching well above the park's tree line near the J.F. Kennedylaan side of the grounds. The register bands its planting to 1880 to 1890, so it has had roughly a century and a half to win that height. No further age detail and no girth are recorded. Free, public park, open daily. Valkenberg is Breda's central city park, beside the castle grounds. There is no single dramatic month for an oak like this. It is worth finding for the same reason it was measured: to stand under the tallest one and see, by comparison, how much smaller the rest of the park's oaks actually are.