# Oregon White Oak (Quercus garryana)

> Oregon white oak, Quercus garryana: 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/oregon-white-oak/

![A large, open-grown Oregon white oak standing alone in a wheat field, with low mountains on the horizon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/oregon-white-oak-1000.jpg?v=165db316 "A large, open-grown Oregon white oak standing alone in a wheat field. Its lifespan is estimated at up to 500 years.")
*Photo: Ed Alverson, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOregon_white_oak_imported_from_iNaturalist_photo_44734895_on_5_February_2024.jpg))*

Large tree, 40 to 90 feet where planted, zones 6 to 9; full sun or part shade; dry, average or wet ground.

We do not grow Oregon white 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 | Oregon White Oak |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Garry oak, Oregon oak, Brewer oak, shin oak |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 40 to 90 where planted; up to 120 in its native stands |
| Spread, feet | Up to 60 |
| Zones | 6 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Dry, average or wet ground |
| Growth | Slow |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Wildlife value, edible, erosion control |
| Flowers | March to June |
| Fruit | Acorns, August to November |
| First crop | 20 or more years (none under 20 in one survey; crops grew until about 80) |
| 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. |
| Lifespan | Lives up to 500 years. |
| Planting season | Spring. The NRCS plant guide moves container seedlings in spring; in a Washington trial, most seedlings planted from November to March lived, and most planted in September died. |
| Black walnut | Not named on the Morton Arboretum's lists |
| Toxicity | The acorns, green acorns above all, and the young leaves are poisonous to cattle. |
| Ground | Dry uplands, rocky ground and floodplain forests |
| Native in | 3 states |

Oregon white oak is native in 3 states: [California](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CA), [Oregon](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OR) and [Washington](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WA). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and 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=oregon-white-oak): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=oregon-white-oak): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=oregon-white-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=oregon-white-oak): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=oregon-white-oak): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=oregon-white-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=oregon-white-oak): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=oregon-white-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=oregon-white-oak): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=oregon-white-oak): the tree age calculator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=oregon-white-oak): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Black Cherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-cherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus serotina*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 2 to 9. Shares dry uplands in the wild.
- [Peachleaf Willow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/peachleaf-willow/index.html.md) (*Salix amygdaloides*): medium tree, 35 to 60 feet, zones 2 to 8. Shares floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Chokecherry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chokecherry/index.html.md) (*Prunus virginiana*): small tree, 20 to 30 feet, zones 2 to 10. Shares rocky ground 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 Oregon white oak in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=oregon-white-oak)

## Read from

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