The mighty oak

Each of us carries an inherent responsibility to preserve the quality of earth's ecosystems. When we leave the responsibility to a few experts...the rest of us remain largely ignorant of earth stewardship and how to practice it. The conservation of Earth's resources, including its living biological systems, must become part of the everyday culture of us all, worldwide.
~Douglas W. Tallamy

My friend Wendy gave me "Nature's Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard" by Douglas Tallamy last year for my birthday and I devoured it. The book is a call for action to "revolutionize the way people garden and landscape to benefit wildlife and communities."

In the U.S.? If you'd like to look up the best native plants in your area to attract butterflies and moths and support birds and other fauna, here's the Native Plant Finder.

I didn't realize it when I decided to focus on oaks for Art Thursday, but Tallamy followed up "Natures Best Hope" with "The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees."

I give you, the Oak:

The Mighty Oak
Nikolay Dubovskoy

La Normandie
par M. Jules Janin

Old Oaks in Surrey, circa 1890
Jan Toorop

Oak frieze in "skønvirke" style, 1911
Knud Larsen

Tree (red oak), Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Dietmar Rabich

Young Man in front of a Great Oak
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

How to Plant an Acorn and Grow an Oak Tree