The Red Oak of the Ostpark

In October 2025 Frankfurt went through its register of natural monuments and struck off a long list of entries. This red oak stayed. The revised register keeps it as natural monument 025 and gives its reasons in three words: rarity, character and beauty. Those three words are close to everything on record. The register lists no age, no girth and no height for it, and no source we have found says when it was planted or by whom. What can be said is short. It is a northern red oak, a species from eastern North America, standing at the north-eastern end of the Ostpark in Ostend. Somebody logged it nearby in May 2024, and a photograph taken in November 2025 shows it at that end of the park, still standing after the cull of the register. The species is the reason to come in autumn. Red oaks were planted across Europe for the colour their leaves turn, a rich red that Frankfurt's native oaks do not manage, and the lobes of each leaf end in fine bristles where a pedunculate oak's are rounded. The Ostpark is a free public city park. The pin is approximate, so head for the park's north-eastern end and look for the oak with the pointed leaves. Nobody has published how old or how big this tree is. If you have stood under it with a tape measure, or know when it went in, tell us.