Re: planting under Calif. live oak
- To: ,
- Subject: Re: planting under Calif. live oak
- From: J*
- Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 08:24:10 -0800
In my neighborhood the Q. kelloggii are all on the ridgetops, the Q.
wislizenii are down on the floodplain where they get inundated in winter but
are dry in summer; and Q. douglasii does both--I have a couple of the latter
that grow out of the center of a vernal pool--under water now, dry in
summer.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mize, Mk (Kurt), NNO <mmize@att.com>
To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Friday, December 17, 1999 5:24 AM
Subject: RE: planting under Calif. live oak
>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
>
>
>
