Good morning, Times change people do too. Disability has forsed me to move back onto the grid. But my gardening continues as a hobby.

Walking is something that I don't do very well. So I am sending this message off in hopes of it running into a country person who has some. I am looking for a northeast US scrub oak tree named quercus ilcifolia (bear oak). I'd be will willing to work out what ever was mutualy agreeable in the way of swop (I have other tree seedlings & seed) for seed or seedlings of this tree. Outright purchase is not out of the question.

Hope I get lucky.

-- Tom Cagle (nh-adapt@juno.com), October 18, 1999

Answers

What is a "bear oak"? I have all kinds of "scrub oak" here in NW MICH, I don;t know ifits BEAR OAK, I've always known it as scrub

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), December 19, 1999.

Tom,

I am familiar with the bur oak. Could this be what you are searching for? I live in NE Oklahoma. Our bur oaks are big trees that produce a large acorn with a large "hairy" cap.

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), May 04, 2000.

Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) grows to 75-100'. Bear oak (Quercus ilicifolia) is also known as Scrub oak, but only grows 9-21' tall. Wish oaks did better around here, I'd love to get a bunch of different ones going. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 04, 2000.

Tom replied back to me, so with his permission, I'm posting his first email, and part of his second.

Good morning folks, This note touches on part of what I am looking for, and why.

My search isn't for a mast tree like bur oak but rather for genetic dwarf trees like bear oak.

I got bit on the butt a few years ago by MS and just can't get out in the woods as I might have liked. So as a result I have been putting up genetic drarves like bear oak into bonsai pots in order to bring the woods to me.

To over simplify there are genetic dwarves that stay small and as a rule have smaller leaves. There are cultural dwarves (yamadori--japanese for found in the woods) that nature pounds into a smaller pattern, Yamadori as a rule take hundreds of years for nature to create, I am reluctant to have people dig those up because they are already living in the right place.

Bur oak is a fine tree it just wants a bigger home than I can provide. It will not adapt well to being trained as a cultural dwarf.

Thank you for thinking of me.

Tom C

This is the fuzzy part of genetic vs. cultural dwarfs. One of the fun things about bonsai growers is that a number of people have tried sticking just about everything under the sun into a shallow pot. Most oaks don't do well, they stubbornly refuse to reduce the size of their leaves. White oaks will a little bit. English oaks reduce better. And all the shrun-scrub-trash oaks do best, *with* one catch, they grow very slowly. Of note here is there are possibly as many of these scrub oaks as ther are full sized ones. Because of their very slow growth rates they need to be collected rather than grown from seed.

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), May 08, 2000.

I need information....I have numerous scrub oaks on my property and in our entire area. I live in Douglas County. SouthWest of Denver about 20 miles. We got hit with snow and 25 degree temperature 3 weeks ago today. Our scrub oaks were almost entirely leafed out...Now they ALL LOOK DEAD. I have lived here almost 30 years and this has never happened. We are wondering if these trees may die? Or just loose their leaves? Leaves are all brown and trees look terrible. Nobody seems to know.....Thanks

-- Rex McTavish (rmct@earthlink.net), June 10, 2001.