Scarlet Oak

Note from the Author: New plant!

 

 

Look at that root flare!

The bark is very distinct.

An acorn and some of the leaves turning their trademark scarlet color.

More scarlet color and here you can see the branching pattern

A nice canopy is developing on this one.

 

Common Name: Scarlet Oak

 

Other Common Names: Black Oak

 

Botanical Family: Fagaceae (The Beech Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Quercus coccinea

 

Description & Habitat:  Scarlet oaks are native to the eastern and central United States and thus can be found on dry sandy soil that tends to be acidic in ph. It is a critical tree in Oak-heath forests as a canopy forming species. Scarlet Oaks tend to have a crown that is up to twenty-four feet wide with a maximum height of one hundred feet. The trunk diameter of these trees can be up to three feet at maturity. The leaves of this tree are deeply lobed with five to six primary lobes and smaller lobes on the leave tips giving its leaves an almost tasseled appearance. Scarlet Oak gets its name from its fall color display where it’s leaves turn from a rich green color to an intense scarlet. the botanical latin name of this street tree only reflects the first name as the latin word coccinea means ‘scarlet’. The latin word ‘Quercus’ just means Oak and is said to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European word ‘kwerkwu’. Interestingly, Oaks are a genus of hardwood trees or shrubs under the Beech Family (Fagaceae). Generally speaking Oaks are considered a keystone species and as such they can be found in a large number of habitats naturally or through the actions of human beings. Additionally Oaks also live in association with numerous types of fungi such as Truffles, but also Lion’s Mane. Oaks as a species support almost a thousand species of Caterpillar and are a host to numerous types of Gall Wasps. The leaves of most oaks contain enough tannin to be toxic to a lot of cattle however pigs can eat them without issue. The most well-known use of Oak wood is in casks for alcohol, furniture, and Cork. Scarlet Oaks are fast growing by oak tree standards, and they tolerate dry soils, urban pollution and they prefer acidic soil. But because they do produce fair sized surface roots, and their root flare can easily heave curbs and sidewalks they are not the best tree for restricted tree pits in the urban landscape.

 

The Scarlet oak is the official tree of Washington D.C.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  The tannin contained in the leaves and acorns of this tree aren’t toxic in general however they can cause nausea and cause iron absorption problems in people. The leaves from this tree are toxic to most livestock with the exception of Pigs.

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When & What to Harvest: You can extract Tannin from the leaves and acorns which is an essential compound if you are planning to tan leather naturally. Tannins also have a role in wine making but in a survival situation those acorns might just save your life. In autumn if you gather acorns as they turn brown you should either store them in a cool dry place for later or shell immediately for use. If you need to use them immediately, place whole, chopped or coarsely ground nut meats in a cloth like a clean t-shirt, and tie it with a string. Place this in boiling water until the water turns brown, then drain the water, and add more and repeat the process until the water stays clear. This funny colored water is full of tannins and can be used for leather tanning projects. Alternately you can place the bag in a stream so it’s constantly wet and wait a t least a day possibly several until the nuts are no longer bitter. From here you can dry them, crush them finely to make Acorn Flour, or crush them coarsely so the chunks are of even size and make something akin to Grits. Or you can roast them and eat them as a trail mix sort of snack. There are tons of recipes for making breads with Acorns, failing that there are several companies that make Acorn Flour so you can work out recipes without all the grunt work. 

 

Related Plants: Two very similar Oaks are the Black Oak (Quercus velutina) and, the Red Oak (Q. rubra).

 

Recipe:

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/quercus-coccinea/

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content?contenttypeid=76&contentid=12060-1

  

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://shop.arborday.org/scarlet-oak?srsltid=AfmBOop_eLgz26L85me7L7_90f8XJWfms79xZBPQHsAeJ89stlpMqi81

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fall Produce:

Garlic, softneck

Soup Kits, Parsnip

Soup Kits, Turnip

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Parsnips

Red Potatoes

Turnips

Sweet Potatoes

 

Plants Coming Soon:

TBA, new stuff in spring

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (-): [On Winter Haitus]

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is January 10^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

American Mistletoe

 Note from the Author: I’ve mentioned this plant before but no real write-up.

 

Here's a good close up

This cluster is growing on a Ornamental Cherry tree near the downtown library.

This larger cluster is doing pretty well, notice how the branch is bent? This is not from weight but the scar tissue and callusing caused by the Mistletoe's haustoria.

Seen from the bridge down the road from the Headquarters library in Downtown Fayetteville.

 

Common Name: American Mistletoe

 

Other Common Names: Mistletoe, False Mistletoe, Oak Mistletoe

 

Botanical Family: Santalaceae (The Sandalwood Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Phoradendron leucarpum (aka P. flavescens, P. serotinum)

 

Description & Habitat:  American Mistletoe like most other true Mistletoe are considered a hemiparasite in that they do have chlorophyll in sufficient quantity to photo synthesize but lack a traditional root system. American Mistletoe is almost exclusively found growing on trees. American Mistletoe uses a root like structure called a Haustoria, that digs into its host plant to extract water and nutrients. These specialized roots can go up or down the branches of a host and penetrate the Xylem and Phloem. American Mistletoe is evergreen and is often spotted as strange leafy blobs seen high up in deciduous trees after the trees have dropped their leaves in autumn. Up close American Mistletoe is best described as medium green in color with oppositely arranged leaves that a leathery to the touch and oblong in shape. This plant’s flowers are inconspicuous to a point of barely being noticed. The flowers are small native species of bees, wasps flies and ants. The flowers might also be marginally wind pollinated. The white berries of American Mistletoe are of note because they are how this plant spreads. Each berry is coated in a sticky substance that causes it to stick to the beaks and feet of birds who then rub the seeds off on surfaces such as other trees. Additionally since birds eat the berries the seeds get dispersed in the usual bird-oriented way as expected.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  This plant is poisonous to People, Cats, Dogs and Horses. Although most references say it is toxic if large quantities are eaten that is relative to body weight of the victim. Symptoms of American Mistletoe poisoning include; Stomach and intestinal irritation with diarrhea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, lowered blood pressure, and slow pulse.

 

The primary poison compounds in this plant are Amine, toxalbumin, pharatoxin viscumin (Lectins, Phoratoxins), the berries are the worst part but it is possible the foliage is just as dangerous so don’t take any risks out there.

 

When & What to Harvest: You can harvest sprigs of this plant for holiday festivities but do not harvest this plant as any sort of food or medicine.

 

Related Plants:  European Mistletoe (Viscum album), Pacific Mistletoe (Phoradendron villosum), Dwarf Mistletoe (Arceuthobium sp.)

 

Recipe: Not Edible, don’t even try.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/phoradendron-leucarpum/

 

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

-if you are determined you can find clusters of this plant in trees all over downtown Fayetteville and those clusters are especially visible in winter.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fall Produce:

Garlic, softneck

Soup Kits, Parsnip

Soup Kits, Turnip

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Parsnips

Red Potatoes

Turnips

Sweet Potatoes

 

Plants Coming Soon:

TBA, new stuff in spring

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (-): [On Winter Haitus]

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is January 3rd at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

A Local Problem - When Questionable Contractors Misbehave

 [Author’s note: This is not my normal garden post to this blog but due to character limits on Next Door, I’m posting the full version of that post here so I can link people back to it.  If you’re not into finding out about a problematic local contractor In Fayetteville NC,  please disregard this post. The Blog is still effectively on Hiatus until 2026.]

 

Hello neighbors,

 

          This is the first time I've posted anything to this group despite being in this group for a while. Your suggestions about local contractors and services that are problematic have been useful to me and, my neighborhood.  With that said I have some information about a local business I’d like to share with you and hopefully it will help you make an informed decision if or if not to use this local business. The name of a business can tell you a bit about who you are working with and in this case it’s Gilchrist Quality Services LLC, but at some point the business was just Quality Services. Based on the LLC documentation, this would be on February 7^th, 2022. Gilchrist Quality Services appears to have originally had its LLC registered in Robeson County at the address 6695 Chickenfoot Road in Saint Pauls, NC. However as of April 8^th 2024 the LLC was dissolved. The LLC was then reinstated on October 26^th 2025 listing the address as 231 Winslow Street in downtown Fayetteville. 

 

The building and it's surrounding landscape does not look that good at the current time.

From google street views it is clear that the business has been physically at that address since at least 2012. Some of you out there might recognize the building in question, as it currently is a bit run down. According to the LLC filing the owner is Jimmy Duane Gilchrist (aka Jimmy G. on ND), whose name might sound familiar to some of but I'll get to why in a moment. His partner in the business is named Melissa Kelly (aka Melissa K. on Next Door) who also has a growing number of aliases (see addendum #1). Some of you might have seen Melissa/Alexis’s behavior on Next Door in the first week of November and know where this might be heading but it’s not specifically about her. Back to Jimmy, the reason you should really think carefully about trusting him on your property or in your home is the number of run-ins with the law that he has had. All of those encounters show that he makes poor decisions. The worst of those decisions happened on Friday June 12^th 2015 when Jimmy thought it was a good idea to drive while drunk. He was found at the Cook-Out on Owen passed out in the parking lot in his GMC Yukon, when someone woke him up he fled in his vehicle hitting two cars on the way to the Massey Hill Neighborhood. At almost three in the morning he ran a stop sign, and hit a car. He hit the car so hard it was thrown about two-hundred feet, killing its driver Joseph Snoke and putting his passenger Keisha Oxendine in critical condition. He also smashed into a house in the process. Do you Jimmy stuck around to take responsibility? Nope, he ditched his vehicle and fled on foot and was eventually caught at about 9:30 am on Cedar Creek Road. Jimmy also chronicled his night of excessive drinking online so the police had plenty of evidence to work with. Some of you might doubt all this but here are some links as proof.

Court Filing - Hit and Run

ABC11 Reports on it

 

          Now, yes some people do stupid things and, one’s life should not be framed by a moment of poor judgement, right? Well no it seems Jimmy has a track record of poor decision-making. Like that time in 2019 where he was caught in Hope Mills for Kidnapping and assault by strangulation.

 

Kidnapping and Assault 

 

          Or the ongoing (as of this writing) case where he allegedly communicated threats to Michael Kelly who seems to be Melissa Kelly’s ex-husband.

 

Jimmy In Trouble Again 

          How about the possession of drug paraphernalia charges in Polk County back in 2012?

 

He Really Can't Keep His Nose Clean 

          Then there's the recently concluded case where he was alleged to have taken advantage of an elderly/Disabled customer of his.

 

Not a Good Look 

 

          The above court case which was active at the time I posted it is exactly the one that started Melissa Kelly/Alexis Mills on their harassment campaign from November 1^st through November 9^th. Apparently posting just the court record and suggesting people need to know about it is the end of the world for Melissa/Alexis. For those who missed it, Melissa/Alexis went on a weeklong rampage of harassment posts, including at least four incidents of doxing, and cumulating with an ineffective attempt at harassment at the Farmer’s Market. In the initial rant sent to me via private message on Next Door Melissa swore up and down that on Monday I’d see the proof that the case was dismissed and they’d won. By Sunday, she blocked me and failed to show the proof she claimed existed. Within a day the alternate account “Stop Trolls” appeared on Monday was promptly shut down by Nextdoor Moderators and then later in the same day the account Alexis Mills appeared making identical posts to the ‘Stop Trolls’ account indicating they were the same person. This harassment campaign isn’t the focus of the article and if you folks reading want details send me a private message and I’ll add it to the article so you can see screen shots of what happened there.

 

          So anyway let’s talk about Gilchrist Quality Service LLC’s qualifications or lack thereof. In the first two lines of their company spiel it says “Hello! We are a legally licensed remodeling commercial and residential construction company Located downtown Fayetteville. We really do it all!” There were some emojis in there that don’t translate to text well but you get the point. I went to check if they were really licensed in the state of North Carolina and what I found was surprising. I first called the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors and routed through to their complaint line to give the pertinent info for Jimmy and his company. As it turns out, he is not a licensed General Contractor in the state of North Carolina. If you don’t believe me call them yourself at (919)571-4183 and select option 3. Next, I went to see if Jimmy was licensed to do Plumbing Contracting and, it turns out according to Court record he was sued in Wake County for falsely claiming he had a plumbing license. The case was deposed on 1-24-2025, and based on the attached documents the State Board of Examiners of Plumbing, Heating and Fire Sprinklers won that one.  The link below contains the proof of this happening:

 

An Injunction Prevents Jimmy From Claiming To Be A Plumber In NC 

Lastly in his Company profile on Next Door he has “So whether you need paint, tile, flooring, plumbing, electrical or more come to us!” So I decided to see if he is licensed as an electrician and contacted the NC state Board of Examiners of Electrical Contractors, and their response to my question of if he was licensed was that he was not. You can call them yourself at (919)733-9042 to verify what I say is true. Of course, I can only see so much and these are just the incidents I happen to know about. It helps form an idea of the kind of person Jimmy Gilchrist is and it gets worse when you look at reviews on his business page on Yelp.

These are two of the four reviews on his Yelp Page that appear legitimate, the other two are troubling.

The first review here is the first inkling that I saw that Jimmy might be a sex pest. It's unsubstantiated of course but that someone bothered to write that much makes you wonder. The second review was likely written by Jimmy or Melissa to try and cover up their poor ratings. 

 

[Screen Shot]

 

Also there is the post by John Brisson right here on the do not use group about him:

Bad Reviews

 

          All of this paints a clear picture that Jimmy is a regular visitor to the court system of at least three counties in our state. I do have to note some of the court records do say "disposed" which means there was a verdict but it’s normal for that type of record not to say what the ruling specifically is. Regardless of that, if he was a good contractor and an honest citizen would he really have that many run-ins with the law? I think not, and since I started putting this together I became aware of another lawsuit being filed by Jimmy Gilchrist against Nina Johnson in small claims court. I’m not going to weigh in on the merits of his case versus hers, since the details are a bit nebulous. You can see the thread where she talks about it at the link below, and I’ve also included the court filing.

 

The Next Door Post by Nina 

 

Jimmy G vs Nina J. 

 

          So, this article wound up a lot longer than I planned for, but so much has happened in the last two weeks that not covering it all would have been a terrible oversight. The TL:DR of it is simple, not all contractors are equal and some have more qualifications than others. It is on you to verify that a contractor has the licenses and certifications they claim to and even ff you stall a project for a day or three just to check, it is always worth it.  Gilchrist Quality Services LLC so far seems to only have a LLC and a long record of problematic behavior. They absolutely belong on the Do Not Use List if only for their incredibly unprofessional behavior. While I am absolutely certain that I will get some kind of rambling attack via private messages from one of Melissa K's alts for even posting this, that’s what I’ve come to expect from Melissa Kelly and her never-ending stream of alternate accounts. You at least get the luxury of seeing it in action and never being at risk of being a target.

 

 

Addendum# 1:  Multiple Accounts

 

          Thus far Melissa Kelly (aka Melissa K.) has been found to have at least four possibly five alternate accounts on Next Door alone. These include Alexis Mills, Haley Brown, Becky A and one named Melinda. In the case of that last one I did not catch if it had a last name or initial, but it too was deactivated by Next Door just like all of them except Melissa K. The links to the profiles below may not work as some of these accounts have been nuked by ND moderators/administrators and thus you can no longer see them without a bookmark or a next door membership.

Melissa Kelly

Alexis Mills

Haley Brown

Becky A. 

Here in the following screen captures is further proof that Melissa Kelly operates multiple accounts which she uses to harass whoever she dislikes in the moment.

Note, this is a unsolicited PM conversation she started with me on 11-1-2025, a Saturday. Notice how she wanted an apology...for posting a court record and not trying to say Jimmy and her were innocent or guilty. At the time of this unwanted conversation the case had not been listed in the court system as deposed. It would not show up as Deposed until Tuesday the 4th of November.

"I will be blasting the person after monday" Yup, thats a threat, and pay close attention to her writing style.

"I've noticed you like to come for me..." I've never had any interaction with her that I can recall before this PM.

She forgets that Jimmy often instigated that by trying to insult me when we disagreed and i blocked his nonsense like Dikembe Mutombo every time. Btw, I have a typo up top, it should read "smh I don't care about you".

It goes on a bit longer, but the next screen shot is the real whopper.

So for the record, Melissa Kelly is stupid enough to put in writing that she is willing to commit acts of Perjury in front of a Magistrate of Cumberland County. This is why no one should believe anything she says.

This was from 11-9-2025, at the end of the week of Alexis's harassment campaign that didn't work. Not her writing style, the use of emojis and her grammar. It's clear she's Melissa Kelly. Note the red banner, ND puts that on Private Messages that come from accounts that are less than a week old.

Just to clarify, she sent this all on the Sunday after she showed up at the Farmer's Market Downtown where I work  and creepily hung around taking photos for two hours and tried to claim I was following her when I was already there minding my own business literally. Also she seems to think she owns downtown Fayetteville and at the end here, she really has no idea what 'defamtory' means.

Note Haley Brown's writing style, sentence structure (or lack thereof) excessive use of emojis and general poor grammar, this is clearly a Melissa Kelly alt account.

Oh look she's playing the victim in a post by Nina Johnson where Nina was calling out Gilchrist Quality Services LLC.

Matt D. and I both call her out for creating alternate accounts and she thinks that's the same as using a nickname or short version of your name on your primary account. Also more projection and playing the victim, but by now everyone probably realizes who 'Haley Brown' really is.

Addendum #2: Additional Information

 

          It seems from both Melissa Kelly’s Profile on Next Door and other sources that Quality services was once located at 2128 Elvira Street. This appears to be a normal looking residential property that was on sale by the owner in 2012 and may have changed hands a few times since then. As of 11-18-2025 Melissa Kelly has deleted this detail from her profile but it still appears in a few listings online.

 

 

Addendum #3: A Cover Up

 

This was what their business page on Nextdoor looked like before 8:00am on Monday November the 17th.

          On Monday the 17^th of November, I received a tip from someone on Next Door that Jimmy and Melissa were trying to alter their company description. To verify this I took a look and found that they had removed all mentions of being insured and any indication of being licensed contractor, plumber or electrician. There is only one probable cause for this, Gilchrist Quality Services LLC,  Jimmy and Melissa are about to be in court sometime next month. They somehow think that deleting text means that someone will not have screen shots of the old text. Unfortunately for them I have before and after screenshots as proof they did make those claims. 

 

Suspiciously, by about 6:00pm, nearly identical business descriptions.

 

Hopefully this is all there is about this horrible company  that I'll ever have to write, but knowing Jimmy and Melissa this will not be the end of it. If need be look here for additional addendums.