Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Tuesday - October 09, 2012

From: Seguin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Planting, Trees
Title: Need advice for planting Bur Oak saplings in Comal County
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

We will be planting several bur oak saplings this fall in deeper soils in Comal County. How close should we plant them? What mortality should we expect? Thanks in advance for your assistance.

ANSWER:

The Bur Oak Quercus macrocarpa (Bur oak) is a large handsome tree whose growth can exceed 100 ft in height and width. This represents a large investment in time and effort, so you want to make every effort to insure the success of this endeavor. Using time tested methods helps to lower the mortality rate.

I’m going to provide two links that have information to get you and your Bur Oaks off to a good start.

The first link is to the Texas Tree Planting Guide. This is an interactive web site from the Texas Forest Service that has several interesting features. Once you get to the web site, try out all of the features, but one that is particularly useful is the Tree Planting Tools. Topics of interest are “Planning for Your Available Space”. This will tell you that trees that get as large as Bur Oaks should probably not be closer than 45 ft. “How to Select a Tree at the Nursery” and “The Best Way to Plant Your Tree” are full of useful information.

The second link is to the CIty of Houston Parks and Recreation Department. This guide covers questions regarding when to plant, what to plant, how to plant, where to plant etc.

A third source of information is the article “How to Plant a Tree” on our Step by Step Guides page.

Some of the information is repetitive, but it is presented from different perspectives.

From the Image Gallery

Bur oak
Quercus macrocarpa