Showerthought: a mature oak can pull 50 gallons of water up its trunk on a hot day
Learned that from a soil scientist's talk at the ISA conference in Columbus back in March, and it stuck with me because it explains why my mulch rings keep the soil so much cooler on the big white oak out back, so now I'm wondering if any of you size your mulch rings based on water demand rather than just the drip line.