Posts Tagged ‘tree’

Mature Bur Oak

As an arborist, the question I am asked most frequently is, “What fast growing shade tree would you recommend for my landscape?”  My answer has been the same for the past thirty years: Bur Oak.  If you have adequate room in your landscape—because it will get quite large, Bur Oak is my recommendation.

It’s easy to justify.  Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) is native to north central Texas.  Walk the creeks and rivers that cut through the Blackland Prairies and you will find them.  They may be scattered in with pecans, black walnuts, and other oaks in bottomland forests, or anchored into the white rock just above the creek beds where they have been watching the water flow for hundreds of years.  They are at home in the deep, rich alluvial soils in the bottom terraces of our waterways, or the thin black soils that rest just above the fractured limestone that blankets this region of the state.  While some introduced trees, such as Sweetgum and Magnolia, may struggle with our alkaline soil and our slightly basic water, the Bur Oak is adaptive and quite at home.

Bur Oak Foliage

Weather extremes are of little concern.  After a two or three year establishment period, supplemental watering is appreciated, but rarely necessary.  The Bur Oak comes out the other end of drought with some brown margined leaves and a few less acorns—but mostly unaffected.  The ice storms of the late 1970s taught us that broken limbs on this oak were the exception.  Its strong wood and natural branching habit create a skeletal structure with rarely a fault.  When fall comes, and it drops its shroud of yellowed leaves, an engineered marvel of twists and turns is displayed until the spring buds pop.

Bur Oak

It is our good fortune the Bur Oak has so few insect and disease concerns.  Could it be that the insects have conceded?  There are the pesky aphids.  And, the lacebugs do occasionally try to stipple the leaves.  But they are the exception—and rarely require addressing.  Galls present themselves from time to time; but they can be quite fascinating and are nothing more than an aesthetic curiosity.  Even Oak Wilt bypasses the Bur Oak, or affects it in ways we don’t yet see or understand.

Top of Bicentennial Bur Oak

Some homeowners consider the size of the acorns to be a negative, but don’t argue the point with the squirrels.  While their acorn size is unforgettable, the number is manageable.  Know this when determining where you plant this tree.  And keep in mind; it may be there for the next 200-years.

“How fast will it grow?”—that is always the next question.  Once established, expect 18”-24” a year.  And in good years, and with good feeding and care, expect 3 feet.  Few non-native trees can meet that expectation, so there is no need to settle for short-lived, fast-growing substitutes.

Bur Oaks are readily available in area nurseries.  The only Bur Oak that doesn’t grow fast is the one that never is planted.

Plano’s subdivisions and shopping centers hardly conjure up natural wonder. But a short walk from some mini-mansions, a Chase bank and a Chinese restaurant sits a leafy grove with some of the oldest living organisms in Texas.

There are ashes, elms, pecans and a bur oak believed to have sprouted during Christopher Columbus’ time.

Starting Friday in the bur oak’s shadow, dozens will gather in Bob Woodruff Park for a series of events known as the Texas Tree Climbing Championships. The competition, held each year, serves as a Super Bowl of sorts for tree-service workers. This year’s event will highlight Plano’s ancient grove, part of a robust greenbelt that follows Rowlett Creek from Dallas north into Allen.

“The first thing out of somebody’s mouth when I tell them about the competition is, ‘Are there any trees in Plano?’ ” joked Steve Houser, an arborist and climber who serves on the Dallas Urban Forest Advisory Committee.

Trees elsewhere in North Texas, aided by plentiful water and fertilizer, may grow larger. Yet few match the ages of some of the trees in this Plano grove, which stands in a floodplain and has been protected for centuries from grazing cattle, encroaching development and Mother Nature’s hazards, arborists say.

“We often talk about the past. But when you see these trees, you’re standing in a time machine and looking at the past,” said Pete Smith, who heads a registry of landmark trees for the Texas Forest Service.

Not far from the bur oak stands an ash tree believed to be 300 years old. Next to that is a pecan estimated to be 400 years old. Close by, another massive bur oak of unknown age towers over the forest floor.

Gauging age

Pinpointing ages is tough. The surest way is to examine the tree’s rings, but doing so without damaging the tree is tricky.

Mother Nature offered arborists a glimpse of the big bur oak’s age in 2006, when a storm felled a large branch.

Plano dubbed the tree the “Bicentennial Bur Oak” some years ago as arborists originally estimated the tree to be about 243 years old.

But arborists determined the felled branch was, itself, 226 years old. That forced scientists to increase the tree’s estimated age at more than 500 years.

Other trees in Texas have received more fanfare.

Austin’s Treaty Oak has won prizes and is believed to be at least 500 years old. Another landmark Texas tree, the Goose Island Oak near Corpus Christi, may have germinated a millennium ago.

Methuselah, a sprawling and wrinkled bristlecone pine in California, is celebrated as the world’s oldest. Its age: about 4,800, give or take a century.

Plano’s bur oak, by comparison, has lived in relative obscurity. It dominates a tranquil clearing just out of sight of bustling Park Boulevard.

The aging oak rarely sheds big acorns anymore. Bees have built a nest on a high limb. And arborists have attached a copper rod onto the tree’s spine to shield it from lightning.

But the oak has grown admirers, who take in its sublime splendor like oxygen.

“When you’re 80 feet up in the air and you feel that big ancient giant swaying back and forth in the wind, it’s just utopia,” Houser said. “I just don’t know how else to describe it. All I know is that when you come down, your worries are gone.”