RE: planting under Calif. live oak
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: RE: planting under Calif. live oak
- From: M* M* (* N*
- Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 07:26:47 -0600
Rebecca Lance wrote:
<<I have had a real hard time finding plants that can take the shade that
oak
trees bring, and not need the water that is so detrimental to our native
oaks. Live Oaks are especially tough as they are evergreen.>>
Water is NOT detrimental to all native oaks. In fact, the greatest stands
of Valley Oak (Quercus lobata), Interior Live Oak (Quercus wislizenii), and
California Black Oak (Quercus kelloggi), are always associated with the
presence of water. In riparian areas, these trees often grow with their
roots actually IN the water. In the "tall forest" (Valley Oak riparian)
area of the Cosumnes River preserve, the Valley Oaks are inundated annually.
The last big flood there left a water mark 16 feet up on the trunks of the
trees! The water table along the river is practically at the surface, but
the trees flourish. At Oak Grove Regional Park in Stockton, part of the
park was left in its "natural" state, while other parts were planted with
grass and watered regularly. During the last big drought, only the oaks
which were in, or bordered on, the grassy, regularly-watered areas survived.
Hundreds of centuries-old oaks in the "natural area" were allowed to die.
At Oak Park in Stockton and Micke Grove Park near Lodi, large groves of
centuries-old oaks have been underplanted with grass and regularly watered
for 75 years with no observable ill effect on the trees. There may be some
native species of oak that don't like water (Blue Oak (Quercus douglasii)
comes to mind. Also, some of the scrubby or desert species), but it's
definitely not true for all of them.
Kurt Mize
Stockton, California
USDA Zone 9
