Two northern red oaks stand on opposite sides of Powell Park, and their trunks are identical to the inch: 70 inches through, 18.3 feet round, about 5.58 metres. The city entered them in its heritage register one after the other, in 1998. This is the southern one, between SE 23rd and 24th Avenues, and it is the one that spreads. The register gives it a crown 116 feet across on a height of 98, so it is about 35 metres wide and only 30 tall, a low dome rather than a tower. Its partner on the north side, about 120 metres away, is a little taller and a little narrower. Seeing both in one visit is the point: two trees of the same species and the same girth that did not grow into the same shape. Red oaks come from the eastern half of the continent, and they earn the name in October, when the leaves go a deep red. Two caveats, stated plainly. Nobody has published an age for either tree, because the register has no age field. And we found no recent photograph from this spot, so beyond the register, which has never marked it removed, we have not confirmed it still stands. Powell Park is free, on SE Powell Boulevard in Brooklyn. If you go, tell us whether both are still there.
yellow-green catkins hang as the leaves openacorns that took two summers to ripen drop in early Octobera rich red, sometimes fading to brown
The line is our estimate of how much there is to see, not a measurement. Typical for this species where this tree stands; exact weeks shift with the year.
Powell Park, south side, between SE 23rd and 24th Ave, SE Powell Blvd You can recognise it by the crown, about 35 metres across on a tree only 30 tall, the wider of the park's two big red oaks. It stands on the south side of Powell Park, between SE 23rd and 24th Avenues.
Free. Public city park (Portland Parks & Recreation, Powell Park).
TriMet bus on SE Powell Blvd; exact stop not verified.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from.
- portland-heritage-trees (objectid 57, treeid 175)