This is my favorite tree. It is a Quercus lobata (valley oak). According to the Oak Foundation, these don’t grow above 2K feet in elevation. This one is at 3200’. I did not plant it. It planted itself…right there. When the USFS et al were fighting the Wildfire of 1996, they decided to use my property as the last line of defense…with a dozer line a hundred feet wide, and fire retardant on the line. The fire did not reach this far, thankfully, but the ground was laid bare and Mother Nature told the native trees and shrubs to repopulate this bare earth and they did. This oak planted itself. I found it the next year a few inches tall, and so I took care of it that first year. Once it was clearly established, I left it alone…other than to talk to it and encourage its choice of home. I have many other Quercus lobatas, and Q agrifolias (coast live oak) and Q chrysolepis (canyon live oak). This oak has reached probably 40-50’. Next year, she will be 30 years old. I think I will get a plaque with her birth year on it for her birthday.