In the process of having some damaged trees trimmed, a relative living on the Avenues discovered that FOUR water oaks in his small yard not only had broken limbs, but also the trees had vertical stress fractures. These fractures were not immediately obvious, but one was wide enough to admit the flat edge of a screwdriver.

In my own yard, a water oak being trimmed was also deemed too damaged to remain.

Water oaks are notoriously unstable. If you have any of them (and they're everywhere) it would be a good idea to have them checked before storm season.

At a recent Neighborhood Association meeting, an arborist urged people not to replant water oaks, but to replant live oak or magnolia. However, wait until December to plant any trees.

(What's a water oak? Google can yield some good pictures of the different oak varieties.)