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Re: Cork oak - Quercus suber

Tim, I used to have 4 big and old (I guesses 35-40 years old then) cork oaks
in the garden I had about ten years ago. They are native in this area and
become quite big, I know of 20 m. high plants in the wild. I agree they are
very beautiful, both when they grow as single trunked trees  or, quite
common here, as multi-stemmed trees. Here in some nurseries it is possible
to buy specimens as big as 10 m. high. It is true they require  acid soil,
and can stand drought when adults. Unfortunately   when you grow them in a
garden (as opposite to a park or forest condition) there are many problems.
To start with, healthy adult trees drop their litter (leaves and catkins) by
the tons in the summer, like all native evergreens. This habit is magnified
if you give them a watering regimen thet encourages natural renovation of
foliage. Let's say you have an undergrowth of other plants that you try to
water, the oaks will take it as an invitation to renovate their leaves and
absorb ALL the water for themselves, leaving the other plants in a virtually
desert-like condition. Then the litter dropped will  spread like a lethal
cover on all your bulbs, annuals, biennuals, shrubs, sub-shrubs etc. By the
way, the leaves  don't compost, because their tannine level is very high. If
you happen to have a pond nearby (I had) they pollute the water and tend to
poison the fish. Then, in the Fall, they start to drop the acorns by the
thousands. I mean, mine were really big and healthy (except when they took a
black mildew, and started dropping a sticky sap on everything, but that did
not last long), so perhaps this is not a real menace to other gardens.
Anyhow, to me the cork oak remains a symbol of high maintenance requiring
tree, and finally I gave up growing anything besides some bulbs underneath,
and I passed Junes and Julies raking and raking...   I would warn you to
place them very carefully in a position that will not harm other plants. 
I should perhaps add that, on the other hand, they were really beautiful,
and  my cats loved to climb them and sharp their nails on the cork...

Alessandra
At 09:14 PM 2/8/98 +1300, you wrote:
>I have a small Quercus suber plant that has been donated to me, and I am 
>wondering where to plant it.  
>
>
****************************************************

Alessandra Vinciguerra
American Academy in Rome
Via Masina,5
00153 Roma
Tel:0039\6\5846.444

library@librs6k.vatlib.it

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