SWAMP WHITE OAK, A FALL HOLDOUT

SWAMP WHITE OAK

Saturday, 9:30 AM.  37 degrees F at the ferry dock, 34 on the back porch.  Wind SE, mostly calm with moderate gusts.  The sky is cloudy and overcast, the humidity 81%.  The barometer is falling, now at 30.12".  High today will be around 40, with rain showers tonight.  Temperature then will fall, with clearing skies and highs around 30 next week.  Snow showers were predicted for this morning but did not happen.
   Swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor, is a fine landscape and street tree.   Native to swamps, river banks and other wet locations somewhat further south and east in North America, it is perfectly hardy north.  Swamp white oaks, as are most riverine tree species, are suited to drier sites as well, since genetically they are tolerant of changing water levels.

   I often use swamp white oak as a privacy screening tree in a sunny location, just as I would a conifer, since the swamp white oak holds its abundant dry leaves virtually all winter long, and provides a nice variation in leaf color and texture as well as  an excellent screening effect.
   Even though the swamp white oak has a slow to moderate growth rate it will eventually become very large, so must be used with care on the small property.  The one pictured is perhaps ten years old.  Like all oaks, it may need supplemental iron fertilizer if leaves become chlorotic (yellowed).
   When most other trees have lost their leaves, swamp white oak is a fall holdout.