Boynton Oak

Size, growth and what to expect

No source we read rates Boynton oak's growth, so our growth estimator uses its slow class, a foot a year. Most are shrubs of about 6 feet, and a few reach 19 feet. Exceptional plants stand 33 feet, and one clonal plant covers about 115 feet of ridge.

It flowers from March to May, and collectors gathered ripe acorns in late September and October. The nut is up to five eighths of an inch long, up to half in a gray, downy cup. Crops are often light, and in 2020 only 2 percent of plants bore over 100 acorns. Caterpillars of the pink-striped oakworm feed on the leaves. Its wild range covers about nine counties of central Alabama. In Texas it is known only from past records in Angelina County. In Blount County some grow down to a river's scour zone, where floods cover their roots.

How to grow Boynton Oak

Boynton oak wants full sun and a dry, well-drained soil, a deep sand or a thin soil over sandstone. Wild colonies also grow in deep sand along streams. Shade from crowding trees and shrubs weakens it, so give it an open site. Set plants 10 feet apart, and keep each one 10 feet from a wall. It may stand within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. White oak acorns sprout soon after they fall. Sow them on arrival, an inch deep, under hardware cloth. Huntsville Botanical Garden now shields its fall-sown acorns with frost cloth, after a hard January freeze was blamed in part for poor germination.

Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Even botanic gardens lose many young plants while they establish, so weed around them and watch them closely. Guard each one with a tube or cage against deer and rabbits for its first two years.

The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. Boynton oak belongs to the white oak group, whose acorns ripen in a single season. Prune only in the dormant season, the safe time for any oak. It survives light fires and sprouts again from the base after a hot one. Acorn weevils spoil some acorns.