# Oglethorpe Oak (Quercus oglethorpensis)

> One of the rarest oaks in North America, with willow-like unlobed leaves and white-oak toughness.

Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/oglethorpe-oak/

![Oglethorpe oak (Quercus oglethorpensis) growing in an open pasture](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/oglethorpe-oak-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Bruce Kirchoff, CC BY 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Quercus_oglethorpensis_%2823560893683%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Large tree
- Mature height: 50 to 80 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 6 to 9
- Grows wild in: Floodplain forests, swamps and wet flats
- Native range: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS) and [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC)
- Sun: Full
- Soil moisture: Average, Wet
- Growth rate: Medium
- Flowers: April
- Fruit: Acorns, October to November
- First crop: About 35 years
- Mature spread: 45 ft
- Traits: Rare, Wildlife value, Tolerates wet soil
- Sold as: Saplings, Acorns

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their [height and age](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/reading-a-nursery-listing/index.html.md) are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

In bundles: Rare Oak Collection.

## Notes

Oglethorpe oak survives in scattered stands on heavy, seasonally wet clay. It belongs to the white oak group, has narrow, entire leaves that look nothing like a typical oak, and has grown well far north of its native range in arboretum plantings. Growing it in a garden is a small act of conservation. Well suited to a wet clay lawn, or to an arboretum row beside the other rare white oaks.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Fewer than a thousand wild Oglethorpe oaks are thought to remain, in the Piedmont of northeast Georgia and western South Carolina with outliers in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. The survivors grow on heavy, poorly drained clay in stream bottoms and first terraces. It is a medium grower, and our growth estimator models it at roughly a foot and a half a year in youth on an average site. A normal mature tree stands about 65 feet with an 18-inch trunk and a crown 45 feet across, within a usual range of 50 to 80 feet.

It flowers in early April, and late frost often damages the female flowers, so acorn crops are usually small. The acorns are ½ to ⅔ of an inch long, under a bowl-shaped cup covering a third to nearly half the nut. They fall in October and November and sprout at once, and birds and mammals eat them. The tree was named in 1940 for Oglethorpe County, Georgia, where Professor Wilbur Duncan first identified it.

## How to grow Oglethorpe Oak

Oglethorpe oak wants full sun and tolerates heavy ground. It grows wild on clay that stands wet all winter, so a low corner that drowns other trees suits it; ordinary drained soil works too. It grows tall and broad, so allow 30 to 40 feet from buildings, other large trees and overhead lines.

Plant a dormant sapling between leaf fall and bud break, bare-root or potted, in a hole twice the root width and no deeper, flare at the soil line, native soil put back unamended. Stake only if it will not stand up. White oak acorns sprout within weeks of dropping, so sow them on arrival, an inch deep, under hardware cloth.

Water deeply every week or two the first summer and keep a wide mulch ring off the bark. Deer browse young oaks hard, so use a five-foot tube and remove it once the trunk fills it, usually in year three. Remove any second leader.

Oaks are wind pollinated and need pollen from another tree to set acorns, and an isolated Oglethorpe oak sets fewer. Plant two or more seedlings. Its taproot means it moves best young. White oaks resist oak wilt far better than red oaks. Chestnut blight has been found cankering wild Oglethorpe oaks, which is unusual for an oak, so watch for sunken dead bark.

## Sources

- [University of Georgia Warnell School, Dr. Kim D. Coder, Oglethorpe Oak, Pub. No. 11, April 2016](https://bugwoodcloud.org/resource/files/15249.pdf)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Quercus oglethorpensis](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/quercus-oglethorpensis/)
- [Virginia Tech Dendrology: Oglethorpe oak, Quercus oglethorpensis](https://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=992)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus oglethorpensis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUOG)
- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus oglethorpensis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501069)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Quercus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Quercus.pdf)
- [Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Georgia Biodiversity Portal: Quercus oglethorpensis, Oglethorpe Oak](https://georgiabiodiversity.org/portal/profile?group=plants&es_id=15988)
- [The Morton Arboretum, Conservation Gap Analysis of Native U.S. Oaks (2019): species profile, Quercus oglethorpensis](https://mortonarb.org/app/uploads/2021/08/species-profile-quercus-oglethorpensis.pdf)
- [Lobdell and Thompson 2017, Ex-situ conservation of Quercus oglethorpensis in living collections of arboreta and botanical gardens, USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-GTR-963](https://www.fs.usda.gov/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr963_054.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus oglethorpensis, Oglethorpe's Oak](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.128740/Quercus_oglethorpensis)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [Why native trees become rare, and ten rare eastern species worth growing](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-native-trees-become-rare/index.html.md)
- [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md)
- [Which oak is this leaf? Telling the eastern oaks apart by lobes, bristles, teeth and the underside](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/which-oak-is-this-leaf/index.html.md)

## Related

- We grow 42 other oaks (Quercus): [all of them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md?q=quercus)
- Plants that share its sun and soil: [Swamp Laurel Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-laurel-oak/index.html.md), [Water Tupelo](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/water-tupelo/index.html.md), [Water Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/water-hickory/index.html.md) and [Swamp Tupelo](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/swamp-tupelo/index.html.md)
- Under its canopy: [Florida Anise](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/florida-anise/index.html.md), [Needle Palm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/needle-palm/index.html.md) and [Two-wing Silverbell](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/two-wing-silverbell/index.html.md)
- Same size, similar character: [Overcup Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/overcup-oak/index.html.md), [Nuttall Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nuttall-oak/index.html.md), [Cherrybark Oak, Wye Island line](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/cherrybark-oak/index.html.md) and [Durand Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/durand-oak/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Oglethorpe Oak, add ?species=oglethorpe-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 6, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak&zone=6&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Oglethorpe Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak): whether Oglethorpe Oak can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can move it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Tree growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Oglethorpe Oak as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Oglethorpe Oak is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Oglethorpe Oak needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=oglethorpe-oak:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Oglethorpe Oak where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Oglethorpe Oak goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=oglethorpe-oak&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Oglethorpe Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=oglethorpe-oak