Few trees are as evocative of the south as the live oak. Its sprawling branches draped in Spanish moss, lining roads or the focal point of parks - it is a fixture of humid summers. Live oaks are noted ...

Clay Bernick is quick to point out “the live oak tree is Virginia Beach’s official tree and has been since 2004,” and well he should, as director of the organization Friends of Live Oaks.

Of the 3 trillion trees on Earth, two southern live oaks in particular stand out to me. The McDonogh Oak in New Orleans’ City Park is more than 800 years old, long enough to reach back to the ...