Quercus alba - White Oak
2015 Theodore Klein Plant Award Winners
Quercus alba - White Oak is a large tree that typically is as wide or wider than it is tall; from 50 - 80 feet tall depending on location and age. It becomes more upright when crowded but as a specimen it is unrivaled in its masculine course winter outline in an open field. While not recommended for the small urban and suburban lot any landscape of size can have a white oak. White oak along with other rounded leaved oaks are classified as members of the white oak group which is separate from the red oak group by having rounded leaves compared to the bristle tipped lobes of the red oak group. The acorns sprout as soon as they hit the ground and while collecting seed many an already emerged root is broken off. Not used as much as it should considering the majestic beauty of the plant. Oaks are trained to a central leader in their early years of nursery production then allowed to develop the broad head without further pruning/training.
Oaks are the US National Tree. The selection process included 21 native tree nominees that were voted on by the citizens of the United States.
For many years the hollow Wye Oak in Maryland was the national champion. Almost half of it broke off in a storm then in 2002 it was brought down "toppled" by another storm. A propagated clone has been planted in the spot the 500 year-old Wye Oak once occupied.