Oak tree seeds from around the world

Image: Wikimedia

Q2 Coast Live Oak ( Quercus Agrifolia )

Good for zones 9-10. Spreading, Evergreen tree with reddish brown to gray colored bark
and dark green spiny toothed leaves. Mature tree can reach 70 ft tall and spread to 50 ft.
wide. Native to California.

Q5 Northern Red Oak ( Quercus Borealis )

Good for zones 4-8. Fast growing, deciduous, spreading tree with smooth, grayish bark
and dark green leaves that display beautiful autumn colors in fall. Likes acidic soil. Mature
tree can reach 80 ft tall and spread to 70 ft. wide. Native to North America.

Q45 Blue Oak ( Quercus douglassi )

Spreading, deciduous tree with a rounded, dense, symmetrical crown and white-gray bark
with small brown or red scales. The oblong, deeply 3-5 lobed mid-green leaves are about
3″ long and become blue-green as they mature. Grows to 65 ft. tall and spreads to 40 ft.
Good for zones 6-9.

Image: Photo by David Stang

Q17 Shingle Oak ( Quercus imbricaria )

Native to eastern, central and southern U.S., best for zones 8-5. Grows 50 to 75′ tall, pyramidal in youth,
oval, rounded or gum drop-shaped when mature. Branching is upright and spreading, lower branches can hang
down much like pin oak. Wood is famous for it’s use in making wooden shingles in the past.

Q20 Valley Oak ( Quercus Lobata )

Good for zones 6-8. Slow growing, spreading, deciduous tree with deeply furrowed, gray
to brown bark. Ovate, dark green leaves to 3 inches long. Sweet, edible acorns. Mature
tree can reach 50 ft tall and spread to 45 ft. wide. Native to California.

The Valley oak (Quercus lobata) is the largest of North American oaks.
It ranges over the hot interior valleys of California. Mature specimens may attain an age of up to 600 years. This deciduous oak requires year-round access to groundwater.

Its grand stature was noted by early pioneers. Today it is an attractive addition to the California landscape.

Its thick, ridged bark is characteristic and evokes alligator hide. The Valley oak’s felt-like deeply lobed leaves assist in rapid identification.

Q24 Chinkapin Oak ( Quercus Muehlenbergii )

Good for zones 4-8. A rounded deciduous tree with gray, scaly bark and dark glossy
green leaves. Mature tree can reach 50 ft tall and spread to 40 ft. wide. Native to SE US.

Q37 Southern Live Oak ( Quercus Virginia )

Very seldom do we get to offer the actual photo of the tree that seeds were collected from, but this is one of those occasions. The seeds we are offering come from this magnificent tree in Southern Mississippi.
Good for zones 8-10. Massive, spreading Evergreen tree with shallow grooved red-brown
bark and leathery, shiny dark green leaves. Mature tree can reach height of 80 ft. and
spread out to 100 ft. wide. Native to Southern US from Virginia to Florida.

Depending on the growing conditions, live oaks vary from the shrubby to large and
spreading: typical open-grown trees reach 15 meters (50 feet) in height, but may span
nearly 50 meters.

Their lower limbs often sweep down towards the ground before curving up again.
They can grow at severe angles, and Native Americans used to bend saplings over so that
they would grow at extreme angles, to serve as trail markers. They drop their leaves, and
grow new ones, within a few weeks in spring. The bark is furrowed longitudinally, and
the acorns are small, but long and tapered. Trees frequently have rounded clumps of ball
moss or thick drapings of Spanish moss, and mistletoe is often found on them.

Southern live oak can grow in moist to dry sites. They can withstand occasional floods
and hurricanes, and are resistant to salt spray and moderate soil salinity. They tend to
survive fire, because often a fire will not reach their crowns. Even if a tree is burned, its
crowns and roots usually survive the fire and sprout vigorously. Furthermore live oak
forests discourage entry of fire from adjacent communities because they provide dense
cover that discourages the growth of a flammable understory.

Although they grow best in well-drained sandy soils and loams, they will also grow
in clay. Live oaks are also surprisingly hardy. Those of southern provenance can easily be
grown in USDA zone 7 and the Oklahoma Live Oak (Quercus virginiana var. fusiformis),
having the same evergreen foliage as the Southern variety, can be grown with success in
areas as cold as zone 6. Even with significant winter leaf burn, these trees can make a
strong comeback during the growing season in more northerly areas such New Jersey,
southern Ohio, and southern Connecticut.