In a segment about May Theilgaard Watts and the Illinois Prairie Path in a recent documentary about trains in the Chicago area, teacher Anne Keller, Phd, says her connection with May Theilgaard Watts started with being taught a song at nature camp. The song was “Know, Know, Know, Your Oaks, This Is How They Grow” sung to the tune of “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat.” Watts wrote the song, with gestures to go with it, when she was the naturalist at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.
At the interviewer’s request, Anne sings for us, charmingly:
Know, know, know, your oaks,
this is how they grow.
Red oak,
white oak,
bur oak,
pin oak,
and this is how they grow.
But, these are not the original words! May Watts wrote:
Know, know, know, your oaks,
this is how they grow.
Red oak,
white oak,
bur oak,
pin oak,
and Hill's, untidy below.
At a New York State Outdoor Educators’ conference years ago, I met someone teaching this song with slightly different words, also leaving out Hill’s oak. “Know Your Oaks” had entered into nature educators’ folklore, passed from person to person, and altered to fit its environment.
Why did Hill’s Oak, Quercus ellipsoidalis, fall by the wayside? Probably because it’s not as widespread as the other oaks. According to the USDA Plants database, the standard common name for this species is northern pin oak. It grows in sandy soils in the upper Midwest of the United States, and in southernmost Ontario in Canada. It’s “untidy below” because it has low-hanging lower branches that persist as dead stubs.
Here’s a 2017 video of a spirited rendition of Know Your Oaks (original words, with gestures) by the staff of the Morton Arboretum.
Do you know this song? What were the words you learned, and who taught them to you?
Reading the Landscape 