# Oak articles: red and white oaks, acorns, galls, leaf-out

> Every article on oaks: telling the red group from the white, when oaks leaf out, the dead leaves they keep, the galls wasps make, and the rare oaks we grow.

8 of 67 articles tagged Oaks. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/oaks/. Each article links to its own Markdown page; each tag at the end has a page of its own.

We grow oaks from seed, among them the [rare oaks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/rare-oaks/index.html.md) garden centers do not carry and the [Wye Island cherrybark oak line](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/specimens/index.html.md), sold as saplings and as [acorns to sow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/acorns-and-seed/index.html.md). The [Rare Oak Collection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/rare-oak-collection/index.html.md) puts five of them together.

## Articles tagged Oaks

- [Twigs all over the lawn: squirrels, twig girdlers, or a tree shedding its own twigs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-trees-drop-twigs/index.html.md): Why oaks drop small branches in summer and fall, how the cut end shows whether a squirrel, a beetle or the tree itself did it, and what to do with the twigs. Published 2026-09-28; tags: How trees work, Decay & damage, Oaks.
- [Mast years: why oaks, hickories and beech bear a huge crop one fall and almost none the next](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/mast-years/index.html.md): Why oaks, hickories and beech crop heavily in some years, how red and white oaks keep separate calendars, what mast does to wildlife, and when to collect seed. Published 2026-09-24; tags: Oaks, How trees work, Forests & habitat.
- [Planting acorns, nuts and seed: collecting, storing and the first year](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-acorns-nuts-and-seed/index.html.md): How to collect sound acorns, nuts and native seed, which sprout at once and which need a cold winter first, where to store and sow them, and the first year. Published 2026-09-22; tags: Planting, Oaks.
- [Marcescence: why young beeches and oaks keep their dead leaves all winter](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/marcescence/index.html.md): The copper-brown leaves rattling on beech saplings and young oaks in January are marcescence. What it is, why it might happen and why it needs no action. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-10-06; tags: How trees work, Oaks, Forests & habitat.
- [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md): How to tell red oaks from white oaks by the leaf, why the groups differ in acorns, oak wilt and lifespan, and which species fit wet flats, dry ridges or a lawn. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-10-06; tags: Oaks, What to plant, Planting.
- [Wasp galls on oaks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/wasp-galls-on-oaks/index.html.md): Oak apples, bullet galls, wool sower galls and woody twig knobs are all grown by the tree around a tiny wasp. They look like disease and almost never are. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-20; tags: Oaks, Decay & damage, How trees work.
- [When oaks leaf out, and why two of them never agree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-oaks-leaf-out/index.html.md): The order in which an eastern woodland leafs out, why two oaks ten feet apart can break bud two weeks apart, and how to tell a late oak from a sick one. Published 2026-09-15, updated 2026-09-25; tags: Oaks, How trees work, Growth & age.
- [How old is that tree, really?](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/how-old-is-that-tree/index.html.md): Forest trees live far longer than the lifespans quoted online, and open-grown trees are usually younger than they look. Both errors ignore how trees grow. Published 2026-09-14, updated 2026-09-20; tags: Growth & age, Measuring trees, Oaks.

## Tags

- [Growth & age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-and-age/index.html.md): 10 articles
- [Measuring trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/measuring-trees/index.html.md): 3 articles
- [Planting](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting/index.html.md): 22 articles
- [Protection & care](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protection-and-care/index.html.md): 21 articles
- [Decay & damage](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/decay-and-damage/index.html.md): 11 articles
- [How trees work](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/how-trees-work/index.html.md): 25 articles
- [Oaks](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/oaks/index.html.md): 8 articles
- [Forests & habitat](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/forests-and-habitat/index.html.md): 24 articles
- [What to plant](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/what-to-plant/index.html.md): 30 articles