Growing The English Oak

Size and Appearance

The English Oak is a large deciduous tree that grows 12 to 16 inches a year, eventually reaching as much as 70 feet in height and spread. The largest trees in the country are almost 100 feet tall and wide. Given its potential 500-year life, don’t plant within 35 feet of your home, any other buildings, roads, property boundaries, or beneath overhead wires. Consider if your property has room for a tree of that size, or grow it for a few years in a large pot, or as a bonsai tree if you don’t – it makes a great bonsai. Younger trees are more upright, but in time it becomes more spreading, with a wide, rounded crown and spreading semi-horizontal branches. The main trunk becomes massive, covered with dark-gray to near-black rugged bark, cracked and broken like alligator hide.

The thickish leaves are 2 to 5 inches long, divided into 5 or 7 shallow lobes – the classic ‘oak leaf’ shape. They are bright green in spring, turning dark-green to blue-green in summer, and yellow-green in fall. Leaves are slow to fall, and can persist well into winter. In spring established trees produce greenish-yellow catkins, and develop clusters of inch-long acorns. Branches of brown leaves and acorns make attractive winter decorations indoors, and as wreaths. The acorns are bitter, and need treatment to be made into an edible flour, but squirrels, deer, turkeys and other wildlife will eat them.

Using English Oak in Your Garden

The English Oak is a wonderful specimen tree for planting on a large lawn, or in open fields, at the edges of woodlands, and anywhere there is room. Consider it as a great choice for a commemorative planting for a birth, wedding, or to honor a loved one. Special occasions worth remembering deserve trees with long memories.

Hardiness

The English Oak is as hardy as any oak available, and more hardy than most. It grows well in zone 4 and through all warmer areas into zone 8. In the hot south-east our native oaks may be more suitable – see our current selection.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Plant your new English Oak in a sunny place, or in partial shade where it will soon grow into the sun. Plant it in any well-drained soil, and this tree is very superior to other oaks for planting on alkaline soils, and even on limestone. It also grows in acid soils just fine. Once established it has good drought tolerance, and it is a good choice for planting in areas with low rainfall.

Maintenance and Pruning

Although the English Oak is renowned for the vast number of insect species it supports, almost all of these are specialized, do little or no damage, and are not pests. In hot, humid areas harmless powdery mildew may grow on the leaves in summer, but otherwise it is normally disease-free. The natural habit of this tree is to grow with low branches radiating outwards, so if you want a taller trunk, keep one central stem growing and remove lower branches early, to prevent scarring.

History and Origin of English Oak

English Oak, Quercus robur, grows naturally all the way from Ireland and Britain to the Caucasus mountain in Georgia. It was once the dominant tree in vast, ancient forests that covered almost all of Britain and Europe. Remnants of these forests persist in Hungary and Poland, but ancient trees can be seen everywhere, especially in Britain, where they are revered. For centuries the wood was used for ship-building (which is why there are so few forests left) and it is still valued for house-building, paneling, floors and furniture.

Buying the English Oak at the Tree Center

If you have a sense of romance and mystery, then the English Oak is for you. If you love beautiful trees and want to leave a legacy to the middle of this millennium, then plant one. The special magic of this tree will soon make you love yours, but order now, because our stock is low, and this majestic tree is always in high demand.

Growing The Swamp Chestnut Oak

Size and Appearance

The Swamp Chestnut Oak is a handsome deciduous tree native to America, which grows at about 2 feet a year, reaching as much as 30 feet in a decade under good growing conditions. Wild trees are among our largest, with some reaching 140 feet tall, but in garden situations you can expect a mature height of around 70 feet, with at least a 50 foot spread. Choose the planting spot carefully and be sure you have enough room. Plant at least 25 feet from your home and other structures or property lines, and don’t plant beneath overhead cables and wires. This is a tree for larger properties, with a long potential life of several hundred years. It has an upright, oval form when young, becoming broader and more rounded with age. The trunk develops to a massive diameter, with gray to gray-brown bark with relatively shallow grooves separating plates of scaly bark.

The leathery leaves are broad ovals, often wider in the upper half, and they are bright green in spring, becoming dark green and glossy, with grayish, softly hairy undersides. They are usually 4 to 8 inches long, but can be larger. The edges are undulating, without the deep lobes we usually expect on an oak tree. In fall they turn bronzy-yellow and rusty-red, coloring late in the season and often staying on the tree well into the winter.

Once trees are 20 to 25 years old they begin to flower, with greenish and reddish catkins in early spring. These develop into 1-inch acorns with a rough cap covering about half the seed. Unusually, the acorns are sweet and tasty, and can be eaten without any treatment to remove bitterness. Wildlife loves them too, and cows learn they are sweet and seek them out, giving this tree an alternative name of cow oak.

Using Swamp Chestnut Oak in Your Garden

With its rapid growth this is a perfect choice for a large lawn, and will develop into a majestic, beautiful specimen throwing a large area of shade. It can also be used in more natural settings, on slopes and around woods, beside water – where it thrives – and to enrich existing natural woodlands and wetlands.

Hardiness

Although only found growing wild in the south, the Swamp Chestnut Oak has good cold resistance, and grows well in zone 5. It succeeds in all warmer areas too, growing in the heat and humidity of the south-east well into zone 9.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The Swamp Chestnut Oak grows best in full sun, although a young tree will handle the shade of surrounding trees while it grows into the light. Plant it in almost any soil that isn’t excessively dry, and preferably acidic or neutral. This tree is an excellent choice for wetter ground and grows well even in areas that are frequently flooded, such as along river banks and beside lakes.

Maintenance and Pruning

You won’t normally have any pest or disease problems with the Swamp Chestnut Oak, which is easy to grow and reliable. It is best to prune enough to keep a single central leading stem growing upwards for as long as possible, to make a strong tree more resistant to storm damage. Remove lower branches early to develop a high trunk if you want that. Removing large limbs later will leave scars on the trunk that may never heal over.

History and Origin of Swamp Chestnut Oak

Swamp Chestnut Oak, Quercus michauxii, grows naturally throughout the east, from New Jersey to Florida and westward through Missouri into Texas. It is usually found in moist areas along rivers, on floodplains, in wetlands and at the bottom of ravines. It was named by Thomas Nuttall, an English botanist who explored and named plants across large parts of North America in the early 19th century. The name is in honor of the French botanist André Michaux, who, among other works, wrote a book on American Oaks in 1801. Being French, this means the name of this tree should be pronounced without the ‘x’, as ‘mi-show-e-i’.

Buying the Swamp Chestnut Oak at the Tree Center

The Swamp Chestnut Oak is highly regarded as one of the most majestic and beautiful of our native oak trees. Yet it is rarely offered. Our trees are grown from seed, so they preserve the natural diversity of the species. Take this opportunity to grow something special and almost certainly not in your neighborhood. Order now, though, as we only have a limited stock and trees of this rarity and quality sell out fast.

Growing The Overcup Oak

Size and Appearance

The Overcup Oak is an attractive deciduous tree with dark green, leathery leaves that turn rich browns in fall, It has a handsome rough trunk of red, gray and brown, and the acorns it produces are valuable for all wildlife, and help the local ecology. It is relatively slow-growing, taking 25 to 30 years to reach a mature state. Wild trees can reach 100 feet tall in time, but in gardens 30 to 40 feet tall and wide is more likely. Long-lived, trees have been recorded at 400 years old, and still growing. It has a rounded crown and a clear central trunk, with rough-textured bark that is attractive, with reddish tones and gray-brown coloring, making a good feature year-round. The limbs grow more upwards than horizontal, so it doesn’t produce the drooping branches that can cause clearance issues with some oaks.

The leathery leaves are deep green, 6 to 8 inches long, with deep lobes along the side and a broader tip area, giving a shape like a lyre – hence the botanical name. In fall they turn rich browns and hang on the trees into early winter. Older trees produce distinctive acorns, with a rough cup that covers most of the smooth seed part of the acorn. This extra covering makes them float, a unique distribution method for this species. These are a valuable and important food for small mammals, squirrels, possums, and wild turkeys. Deer also eat them, and the tree is an important habitat for a variety of moths and butterflies.

Using Overcup Oak in Your Garden

Too slow for a lawn shade tree, this is a perfect commemorative tree to plant for special occasions, like a birth, a marriage or a coming of age. If you have an interest in conservation and ecology, then planting an important native tree like this one is a great thing to do. Plant on a large lawn, on the margins of a woodland, or in clearings in existing woods, to enrich the environment. Use it for woodland restoration, along with other native trees and shrubs.

Hardiness

The Overcup Oak grows in all warm to hot zones, from zone 6 to zone 9. It tolerates heat and humidity well.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

The Overcup Oak is a tree that will thrive in full sun, but also in partial shade, allowing it to grow up through existing trees and large shrubs. It grows in most soils, from sand to clay, and in acidic, neutral and slightly alkaline soils too. It enjoys well-drained soil, but also tolerates wet conditions and areas that are periodically flooded. As well, it is extremely drought and heat tolerant, so it will grow well in ordinary to dry conditions too, even in hot, demanding regions. It also grows well in poor urban soils, where there is sufficient room for it to mature, and can be a valuable part of the urban forest.

Maintenance and Pruning

Pests and diseases are normally not problems for the Overcup Oak, and its root system is not invasive or destructive. Deer will eat the acorns, but not the tree. It needs little attention once established, but we suggest some formative pruning during its early life. Remove or shorten side-branches as needed to keep a single central leading stem for as long as possible. This makes a sturdier tree less likely to be damaged by storms. If you want a tall trunk, remove lower branches while they are thin, so that the trunk is smooth and free of scars.

History and Origin of Overcup Oak

Overcup Oak, Quercus lyrata, is a tree native to most of central and eastern America, from New Jersey to Texas and north to Illinois. It grows mostly on wet clays, in swamps, wetlands and floodplains. It can survive for up to 2 seasons partially submerged by flood waters. It was ‘discovered’ and named by the British-American botanist Thomas Walter, who wrote a flora of Carolina in 1788. It was the first book on American plants to use the relatively new binomial system of Linnaeus still in use today.

Buying the Overcup Oak at the Tree Center

The Overcup Oak is only produced by a small number of growers, so it is rarely offered for sale. Take advantage of our efforts to find some excellent young trees, and plant something really special. We have limited stock, and given its rarity we don’t expect them to be on our farm for long – order now.

Growing Nuttall’s Oak

Size and Appearance

Nuttall’s Oak is a large deciduous tree, fast growing, adding 2 or 3 feet a year when young. After 10 years it will be 30 feet tall, ultimately reaching about 75 feet, with a potential spread of up to 50 feet. It has a broad, rounded crown, with branches spreading outwards. Choose your planting spot carefully, never planting beneath power lines and overhead wires, or within 25 feet of a building, wall or property line. Avoid planting over underground services, or near a swimming pool. This tree has an upright trunk, with gray-brown bark with shallow ridges and furrows, becoming darker gray as it matures, and developing deep, scaly ridges. Young trees are pyramidal, becoming more spreading and rounded as they develop.

The leaves are up to 9 inches long and 5 inches wide, and lustrous dark green, with between 5 and 9 deep, narrow lobes on each side, creating a classic ‘oak leaf’ look. In spring, especially if the season is cold, new leaves can be red to purple, quickly turning green. In all but the hottest zones fall color is reliable and attractive, with rich yellow-orange and red tones. Older trees develop acorns about 1-inch long.

Using Nuttall’s Oak in Your Garden

This tree is a terrific choice for a shade tree, growing rapidly and soon making a real statement in your garden. It is especially useful if you have wetter soil. It grows well in urban areas too, so it’s a good choice for a larger city garden – make sure you do have enough room for its mature size, as removing a large tree from a small location is a great loss, and expensive too. Since it is a native tree, Nuttall’s Oak is also a perfect choice for planting along the edge of woodlands, or improving the variety of trees in an existing wooded area.

Hardiness

Nuttall’s Oak is a tree for warm and hot parts of the country, completely hardy from zone 6 to zone 9, and also hardy in warmer parts of zone 5. It tolerates heat and humidity well.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Plant Nuttall’s Oak in full sun, or in a location where it will quickly grow into full sun. It grows in a wide range of soils, from acidic to alkaline, including heavy, wet clays. It prefers moist, well-drained soils but is also very drought resistant, once established. As well it will grow in wet soils and quickly recovers from periods of flooding. Not resistant to salt-spray or brackish water.

Maintenance and Pruning

This tree rarely suffers from either serious pests or significant diseases. It is worthwhile doing some formative pruning while the tree is young. Keep one central leading stem growing upwards, rather than allowing multiple-main branches to develop. The mature tree will be more attractive and stronger that way, even if it leaves the young tree looking thin and open for a year or two. If you want a taller trunk, remove lower branches gradually, while they are still thin, so that the trunk becomes clean and free of scars.

History and Origin of Nuttall’s Oak

Nuttall’s Oak, Quercus texana, is also called Texas oak. For a very long time it was called Quercus nuttallii, and it’s still known by that name with many nurserymen. The change of name was confusing, as there already was a different tree called Quercus texana, which is the Texas red oak. That tree is now called Quercus buckleyi.

Thomas Nuttall was an English botanist who explored and collected extensively in North America in the first half of the 19th century. He covered many areas first visited by Lewis & Clark, re-discovering plants they had found, and finding many new ones as well. His oak is found in a limited area, mostly in the lower Mississippi River Valley, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. There are also scattered populations over a larger part of the east and south.

Buying Nuttall’s Oak at the Tree Center

We love being able to offer our clients more unusual plants – especially outstanding native trees like Nuttall’s Oak. These are hard to source, and always in short supply, so order yours now, sit back, and watch it grow. Seeing a tree develop before your eyes is a marvelous experience, but you need to order right away to enjoy it.