Love those oaks! I'm having 50 oaks grafted this winter to add fall color to my conifer-scape. I've lined up some really nice material coming from my friend, Guy Sternberg.

Yesterday after four years of observing a Pin oak in the wild I collected scionwood and put a name on this as (December Red). While it may or may not make it into the trade ever, a name was necessary - just in case. This Pin is nearly fire engine red & the red persists for a long time (it's very good color, just a bit less than perfect) and the red color persists well into December as well as January. The boost of anthyocyanin pigment in its' DNA is the reason for it's boastful color. Photographed December 21, 2011.

Quercus palustris (December Red)

Quercus palustris (December Red)

Quercus palustris (December Red)

Dax

Beautiful photos from both of you. Lovely trees and color. Ken those are some beautiful backdrops for your conifers.
Cher

Great oaks, Ken. I just checked the range map and you're smack dab in one of the outlier pods.

That pin looks real good too Dax.

+oM

Lovely fall color. Those sure grew like weeds in your sand!

Talking about luck...my gardening career has been plagued by multiple 100 year floods followed by drought.

I can't wait for my stuff to get established...part of the reason for going ape sh&t the first year.

Ken,

You're knocking my socks off again! In early November I ordered a one gallon Quercus coccinea from Forestfarm, coming late March. It's great to get an idea what it'll look like for the grandkids I may have someday, lol. They're just beautiful!

Dax, that's a handsome tree. I wish the pins did better in alkaline soil or I'd give them a try!

Hang in there whaas, you're well on your way!

Barb

Are the Q. Coccinea really that slow growing? I may try one, if it is alot slower than the other reds I want to put it where the others won't overtake the area before the scarlet can catch up. I don't plant my oaks too close together, but I have an area where some are 35 ft apart, enough to be bad for a slower grower. I'm trying for the wooded look in a certain area.

Poaky, I have coccinea acorns.

Dax

mine grow around 3 feet per year ...

but dont forget i started with 6 footers ...

when i move free range babes in the 1 to 3 foot range.. they tend to SEEM to just sit there for a few years ...

you are not going to plant a one footer.. and get it to grow to 4 foot the first year .. they are trees.. not perennials ...

if it does anything.. you might get it to two feet in 2 more years .... never forget.. with a tree .. that they need to grow the root mass.. to grow the tree above.. and those first few years are all about roots ... if it lives.. you just have to believe ... that they will get going sooner or later ...

35 feet apart ... sounds fine ... i doubt in your life time.. they will encroach on each other ....

make sense???

i dont consider any of this hijacking.. i post to entice... and expect questions ...

i suspect the oaks like my course sand and high drainage ...

ken