# Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia)

> Coast live oak, Quercus agrifolia: its height and zones, when it flowers and fruits, where it grows wild, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/coast-live-oak/

![An old coast live oak with a twisting trunk and long, low limbs under a dense evergreen canopy in dappled shade](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/coast-live-oak-1000.jpg?v=873d5051 "A coast live oak in its natural form, its low limbs reaching the ground, on June 28, 2019. It may live over 250 years.")
*Photo: ArtemesiaTridentat, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AQuercus_agrifolia.jpg))*

Large tree, 30 to 80 feet where planted, zones 8 to 10; full sun, part shade or shade; dry or average ground.

We do not grow coast live oak, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Coast Live Oak |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | California live oak, coastal live oak |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 30 to 80 where planted; up to 100 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 70 |
| Zones | 8 to 10 |
| Sun | Full sun, part shade or shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry or average ground |
| Growth | Medium |
| Leaves | Evergreen |
| Traits | Wildlife value, hedge or screen, erosion control |
| Flowers | February to April |
| Fruit | Acorns, August to March |
| First crop | 15 years |
| Pollination | Needs a second, unrelated tree. The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby, since oaks seldom set acorns with their own pollen. The International Oak Society reports a lone coast live oak in Israel heavy with viable acorns, which may have pollinated itself. |
| Lifespan | Can live 250 years or more. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Ground | Rich moist slopes, stream banks and the coast |
| Native in | 1 state |

Coast live oak is native in 1 state: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from the Fire Effects Information System.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=coast-live-oak): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=coast-live-oak:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares stream banks in the wild.
- [More natives for this ground in the tree finder](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-finder/index.html.md?size=large-tree&sun=full&moisture=average)
- [Every companion of coast live oak in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=coast-live-oak)

## Read from

Its figures come from the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, the USDA PLANTS Database, Cal Poly's SelecTree, Oregon State University's Landscape Plants, the Wildflower Center and Calscape.