And the winner is... (Guess the Tree's Age contest)


Congratulations to Nonot, who's estimate came the closest in May's contest. The Scarlet oak, located just a few miles north of Atlanta, is 42 years old this year.

Here is the story of the tree, as told by the woman standing next to the oak:

When Fulton County installed the sewer line my children told me to come down and look at the creek where they cut down all the trees. When I walked down there I saw this tree that had been pushed over but the bark wasn't skinned off of it so I dug it up and brought it home and planted it and the other one over there.

My neighbors made fun of me and wanted to know why I planted a switch in my front yard. When I planted it, I could reach around it with my thumb and finger like this: [overlapped at first knuckles]


So we estimated the tree was about 3 years old when she planted it. That was 39 years ago!

tim the shrubber came close, with his guess of 39 years old, which is the age when it was planted. Randy gets special mention for several stabs, but never really making an exact guess...and 'anonymous' and 'Steve Pettis' were the closest in accuracy.

Thanks for playing!

Comments

Unknown said…
That's true, I never narrowed it down, but 42 is right in the middle of my 40-45 range, lol. But then again, no one knows the exact age anyway... The tree was "estimated" to have been 3 yrs old at planting. It could have been 2 or 5. Who can say for sure? But I'm proud of myself nonetheless. :D Thanks Jesse!
5:04 PM
Jesse Milton said…
Let's hope that we never find out exactly how old the tree was (if you know what I mean).
7:04 PM
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