I've heard aout something called Oak tree sudden death out west. I really hope it hasn't come east. I've included a link to a recent article.
john

Here is a link that might be useful: Oak tree sudden death

How sad.....Our back yard is nothing but huge live oaks and is one of the reasons we bought this home. If those oaks died like that it would be heart breaking. I do understand how it could happen though. Just last week in the yard we noticed a mature redbay that had what looked like tooth picks sticking out of it...in a weeks time the canopy went from green to dry and brown and the tree is now dead. After doing some research we found it was a imported beetle, the Ambrosia beetle that was responsible for the trees rapid death.

Thanks for the input. I fear it may be a fungus (what the Fairchild arborist hypothesized) and if it's as bad as that one out west, spread by rain drops, there's really no way to save my oak, or any other oak. (Yikes John, thanks for the link, which scared me.)
Bamboo - two of my neighbors have told me that they bought their homes because of the beautiful oaks, now gone. This scourge started before we bought here, so we didn't realize how much of the canopy had been lost. We certainly grieve for the one we're losing right now, because that was an amazing tree.
I had always assumed I would plant an oak one day, because, as my grandmother taught me, responsible southern gardeners plant oaks.
Now what will I plant?

Natives & veggies,

I heard of the oak disease attacking the oak trees out west a while back and I've started to intersperse maple trees here and there on my property so if the oak fungus hits here I will still have some majestic looking trees left. I've had a few oaks drop leaves, dry up and come crashing down... but I'm not sure if it was the disease or lightning causing it. I get some hellish lightning on my little hill that has set trees ablaze but the downpour has put the fires out most times. Each year I buy a few maple trees 6 - 12 inch starts and grow them in pots until they are 10 - 12 feet tall then transplant them out. There are a few maples that are native to Florida so I buy those starts. I've also planted a few sycamore trees and some other trees. I've had to run a few hundred feet of garden hose set on timers to keep them watered until established so thats why I set out only a few each year. The well is located around 1,200 feet away from the furthest corner of my lot so it takes a lot of garden hose to reach.

When I lived up north we lost all our elm trees to the dutch elm disease so I know the pain of losing beautiful huge trees.

Lou

Lou,
I lived in DC in the aftermath of Dutch Elm's. It was sad. My parents have a giant horse chesnut that has apparently escaped some similar horse chestnut scourge - one of the few.
Maples won't grow this far south, but I'm wondering about gumbo limbos. Not nearly as majestic as an old oak, but they're really nice trees.
I'm so sad about this oak thing because I really was raised to believe it was my duty to plant a live oak if I owned a postage stamp of property. I've only owned once before, and I put three on that postage stamp. Bet they're gorgeous now.
If you're starting that small, have you checked out the Arbor Day Foundation? For $10, they'll send you ten little trees, bareroot. All they have for down here is oaks and cypress, but they might have maples for up there. Sadly, I don't have room for bald cypress.

Here is a link that might be useful: arbor day foundation trees

Red Maples do indeed grow this far south. They're much smaller and need to be planted where it's normally wet.

Gumbo Limbo is a deciduous native, yes it's a nice tree, but it's going to be bare for several months a year. Plus you'd need three of them to replace a very large oak.

Several native trees that would work for you include:

Mastic - Mastichodendron foetidissiumum
Jamaica Dogwood - Piscidia piscipula
Paradise Tree - Simaruba glauca

Natives & veggies,

Thank You, I did join the Arbor Day Foundation a few years back and received my 10 trees, only around half of them have survived in Fla. the tallest is around 15 feet now. They were teeny little pencil sized when they came in a plastic mailer pouch that was in the sun all day in the mail person's jeep. It's a wonder any at all survived the brutal postal system.

I also remember the plight of the chestnut trees and the very few that had survived (I think three) the town ended up cutting them down to widen the roadway as the town expanded.

Lou