Pin Oak (Spanish or Swamp Oak)
Quercus palustris (FAGACEAE)
Planting and Growing Pin Oak
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak) in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Foliage, catkins, and acorns of pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak) trees
- Growing conditions for pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
- When to plant pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
- How to plant pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
- How to prune pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
- Landscape uses of pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
- Pest and disease control for pin oak (Spanish or swamp oak)
Growing Pin Oak Trees
Several cultivars of medium-growing, upright, pyramid-shaped, open, deciduous trees, to 80 ft. (24 m) tall, with shiny, deep green, lance-shaped, pointed, 5–7-lobed, deeply cut leaves, to 5 in. (13 cm) long, turning brown, red, yellow in autumn, persisting into winter, and with gray brown, furrowed bark.
Pin Oak Planting and Care Guide
Catkins, Cones, and Seeds
Many inconspicuous, willowlike, pale green, dangling or spiking catkins, in spring, form round acorns, to 3/4 in. (19 mm) long, in autumn, with cup-shaped caps partially surrounding each nutshell.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 2–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich. 6.0–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun. Space 15–25 ft. (4.5–7.5 m) apart.
Proper Care
Moderate. Keep evenly moist. Fertilize annually in spring until established. Propagate by cuttings, grafting, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, paths, screens in open landscapes and lawns. Drops acorns, leaves, requiring maintenance. Gall, gypsy moth, oak-leaf pruner, scale and anthracnose, canker, chlorosis, oak wilt susceptible.
Common Species and Varieties of Oak
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- Quercus acutissima, sawtooth oak
- Quercus agrifolia, coast live oak
- Quercus alba, white oak
- Quercus berberidifolia, scrub oak
- Quercus bicolor, swamp white oak
- Quercus buckleyi, Spanish oak
- Quercus chrysolepis, canyon live oak
- Quercus coccinea, scarlet oak
- Quercus douglasii, blue oak
- Quercus durata, leather oak
- Quercus emoryi, Emory oak
- Quercus englemanni, Englemann oak
- Quercus frainetto, Italian oak
- Quercus gambellii, Gambel oak
- Quercus ilex, holly oak
- Quercus kelloggii, California black oak
- Quercus lobata, California white oak
- Quercus macrocarpa, bur oak
- Quercus muehlenbergii, chinquapin
- Quercus myrsinifolia, Japanese live oak
- Quercus palustris, pin oak
- Quercus phellos, willow oak
- Quercus robur, English oak
- Quercus rubra, red oak
- Quercus suber, cork oak
- Quercus virginiana, live oak
- Quercus wislizenii, interior live oak
About Oak Trees
The important Quercus genus includes about 450 species of mostly large, long-lived, round-crowned, many-branched, deciduous and evergreen trees. All are native to the temperate zones and tropical mountains of the northern hemisphere. They also are commercially important trees grown and harvested for their hard, durable wood used to make furniture and other lumber products.
Oaks perform best in regions with winter chill. If you garden in an area of mostly hot, dry summers and mild winters, choose native species adapted to your region.
Ornamental oak species usually are medium-growing trees. Most reach 60–80 ft. (18–24 m) tall, becoming slow-growing as they become mature.
Oaks can take many years to mature. Pests of oaks include gall insects, gypsy moth larva, leaf miner, oak twig pruner, scale, as well as canker and oak worms. They also are susceptible to diseases such as anthracnose, sudden oak death, shoe-string rot, and oak wilt. Also plan for frequent rakings to remove their fallen catkins, leaves, seed, and twigs.
Consult with your garden center staff for recommendations before planting one of the popular landscape or native oak species, at left.
Planting and Caring for Oaks
Oaks are prized, major elements of any landscape. When mature, they have massive, single trunks with radiating, thick, sweeping branches that are uplifted and spreading. Those found in warm-summer climates often are evergreen or semi-evergreen, but the deciduous species found in cold-winter areas frequently have spectacular displays of red or yellow autumn color.
Plant oaks in rich, moist, well-drained, acidic soil. While all trees perform best when planted in native soil, it is especially important for oaks. Your site should be tested for an acid-alkaline balance measuring 5.5–7.0 pH before planting. Also match your tree’s needs to your climate, especially when choosing a native oak species.
When you plant, carefully measure so that the depth of the planting hole is equal to the soil line of your tree’s rootball. The roots of the planting should be at the same depth in its new location as when it was grown at the tree nursery.
Backfill the planting hole with native soil, surround it with a moat, and water the tree whenever the soil surface becomes dry. Once the tree is fully established, the roots that absorb water will grow in a circular pattern on the ground located beneath the outer foliage of the tree, known as its “drip line,” and watering should take place in that area away from the tree’s trunk.
Give your oaks ample room. The recommended spacing of 15–25 ft. (4.5–7.5 m) is the minimum to consider when planting oaks near a structure; double or triple that spacing to plant specimen trees.