Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns grow

I have been planting oaks. You might think that this is rather a waste of time. For one thing we are not short of oaks in our part of Gascony - our garden has at least half a dozen magnificent specimens already. Moreover I must now qualify as an elderly gent, perhaps not even a gent, and so I am not going to see the oaks I am planting, most of them not more than two or three years old, in anything remotely approaching their prime. What has prompted me to do so has been the generosity of Nora Vogel who has presented me with a number of young trees, these from her marvellous collection of oaks that she is building up in the west of the Gers. But there is also a part of me, as I suspect among quite a few gardeners, that contains a collecting addiction, and oaks provide a great opportunity to indulge this trait. The new Hilliers lists around about two hundred different oaks, and I suspect that this number could be greatly increased.  And while many look very much alike, a great many do not, differing as regards size - not all oaks are huge, for instance Quercus georgiana, described by Hilliers as a 'small spreading tree or large shrub' - the shape of their leaves varys enormously, most I guess are deciduous but by no means all, etc, etc.


Someone I used to garden with in England was very keen on the adage "Lets reinforce success", which is to say if something is happy lets have more of it. It is not a bad slogan, though it does not speak to my collecting instinct. Moreover it can be dangerous. The fact that certain oaks flourish in Gascony, I guess mainly Q.pubescens, its English common name the Downy Oak, and perhaps also the Sessile Oak, Q.petraea,though anybody with other ideas about this please get in touch since I am not at all confident about these attributions, does not mean that all do. For instance one of the reasons that I like oaks is that many of them have good autumn colour, as readers of these blogs will know one of my great obsessions. Most of these come from North America. Many of them prefer wetter conditions than we at least can provide on our South facing Gersois hillside, and some of them need acid soil, which we certainly cannot provide. For instance the oak that has perhaps the most dramatic autumn colouring, Q.coccinea especially in its form 'Splendens' does not seem to tolerate even a touch of lime, and certainly demands rather damper and deeper soil than we can provide, all of which has put me off trying it. On the other hand rather perversely I have planted Q.Bicolor, common name the Swamp White Oak, which as its name suggests prefers much wetter conditions than I can provide, tempted to do so by promise of good autumn colour, and its liking of hot summers which we can provide. Of course the safer bet for an oak with good autumn colour is Q.rubra which also happens to be very readily available. This for me is not necessarily a recommendation. What is is a marvellous specimen to be seen at Les Jardins de Coursiana at La Romieu, this along with a very wide choice of other oaks, so before choosing oaks I strongly recommend a visit.



From the above it will be clear that a good deal of irrationality and prejudice comes into my choice of oaks. But if this blog has any purpose it is to remind you of their huge variety. For instance you could have a Bamboo-leaf oak(Q.myrsinfolia), a Chestnut-leafed oak(Q.castenifolia), or a Willow Oak(Q.phellos), or if you prefer countries what about an Armenian oak(Q.pontica) or perhaps a Lebanon Oak(Q.Libani). And so far I have hardly mentioned the evergreen oaks, the most common being the Holm oak(Q.ilex), but there are many others. Secondly despite the above I would recommend looking at the literature before choosing. Hilliers curiously is hopeless as regards giving advice. My two bibles are 'Arbres et Arbustes' by Myriam and Vincent Grellier, who run Les pépinières Botanique de La Preille, and my 2008-10 catalogue of les pépinière Adeline - I emphasize the date since it has recently changed hands and I have no idea whether the very high standards of the previous owners, has been maintained. This catalogue is just the best list of trees with good information about the conditions they prefer, that I have ever come across. The La Preille book, in fact another detailed catalogue, contains rather fewer trees but has the great merit of being geared to our conditions, and is really an essential reference for Gascon gardeners. My third choice would be  the Encyclopédie des Arbres text by John White and drawings by David More, though there is certainly an English edition, its great merit being that it gives you some idea of the eventual look of the tree along with the shape of the leaves and texture and colour of the bark - so particularly useful for identification.


So do look at the literature, even if like myself you then ignore the advice, for thanks to the great varity of conditions even within a smallish garden you might just get away with it. My most successful oak, and one that I have mentioned before in these blogs, is Q.shumardii. La Preille's advice is that 'il préfère des sols acides ou neutres;éviter les argiles fortes . . .' Well we have plenty of clay and we are certainly not acid, but so far my "Chene du Shumard" seems reasonably happy.



Meanwhile it is very much cotoneaster and mahonia time, all of which are looking splendid at this moment. Mahonias I have probably said quite enough about in previous blogs, but perhaps not quite enough about the humble Cotoneaster lacteus: common as dirt and for much of the year easy to overlook but come November/December with its dark glossy green leaves and scarlet berries it is a complete winner.