NEW ORLEANS -- Tum Tum, Brother Joseph, God's Wonder and Shady Eden are among the newest members of a national registry of grand, gnarly live oaks.
Tum Tum, in Lafayette, La., and named for a cat, is 16 feet around: a centenarian by Live Oak Society rules. The other three are in the society's junior league at, respectively, 13, 10 and the minimum 8 feet in circumference.
Many trees have been named for pets, said Coleen Perilloux Landry, the chairman and sole human member of the society created by the Louisiana Garden Club Federation Inc. to draw attention to and help preserve the old trees.
"One tree was named for a squirrel who used to live in the tree," she said, although she couldn't remember the name.
Landry said about 300 live oaks were registered this year, and another 13 were saved from being cut to make way for a highway in Jeanerette, La.
She estimates she's registered more than 4,000 of the society's 7,500 trees since taking office in 2001. Many are in Louisiana, but there are substantial numbers in Florida, the Carolinas and Mississippi, with smaller numbers in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Texas and Ohio. Kentucky has one. Registration is free.
Most names are given by the tree's owner. Sometimes they're just the name of the property and a number. That's the case at the moment for nearly 70 on Daniel Island, S.C.
A civic group there is registering and auctioning naming rights to "hundreds of nice-sized oaks," Landry said. Names already registered include The Resurrection Oak, The Ittiwan Oak and Guardian Angel Oak.
Most names have stories.
The eight trees in Cory Cochran's yard in the southwest Louisiana city of Westlake are dedicated to his late wife, who never got to see them. Seven bear one letter each of her first name, Kristen. The biggest, 17 feet around, is named 337, for their wedding.
A Section on 12/21/2014