Volumnia Live Oaks

Volumnia Farm has over 30 live oak trees on its premises; 26 being registered and named with the Live Oak Society of the Louisiana Garden Club Federation, Inc.

The oldest tree (R.R. Barrow tree) is over 6 feet in diameter and estimated to be almost 500 years old, and the second oldest (Adolph Gaidry) is 5′ 8” in diameter and about 430 years old.

The Southern Live Oak (Quercus Virginiana), unlike other oaks, keeps its leaves all year except for a few weeks in the spring when it replaces the old leaves (hence the name live); and the Live Oak and its Spanish moss is iconic to Old South Louisiana and Volumnia Farm. This majestic tree can reach a height of over 60 feet and a spread double the height with a root system under ground equal to the size of the tree above ground; making it very hard to uproot in the high winds and hurricanes common to South Louisiana.

Sweet, tapered acorns produced by the trees are eaten by birds and mammals, including sapsuckers, mallards, wild turkeys, squirrels, black bears, and deer. Other birds make use of the moss that frequently hangs from the tree branches to construct nests. The Live Oak is also home to epiphytes (air plants) Spanish moss, night-blooming cereus; staghorn fern and resurrection fern.