Native Plants

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Thursday - September 09, 2010

From: Leesburg, GA
Region: Southeast
Topic: Trees
Title: Looking for a tree to plant as a memorial in Leesburg, GA.
Answered by: Jimmy Mills

QUESTION:

I'm looking for tree to plant as memorial to my brother who died. It must be native, for South Georgia, zone 8, open fields. It should provide mast for wildlife. Heat zone 8, good drought-tolerance. He loved to hunt and enjoyed watching birds and mammals. A Chinkapin oak, Quercus muehlenbergii was suggested. Is rated a zone 7. Will this work in my area? Thanks.

ANSWER:

Planting a tree is always a good thing, and doing it as a memorial is even better.

The Chinkapin Oak Quercus muehlenbergii (Chinkapin oak) is a good possibility. It is a handsome tree (at maturity) and can reach up to 60 ft. tall. It produces acorns for wildlife, and has pretty fall foliage, and can grow in USDA Hardiness zones 5-8. Clicking on the link above will pull up its NPIN page that has a description of the plant and tells about its growth characteristics and requirements. These links from Discover Life and Floridata have expanded descriptions of the Chinkapin oak.

So you won't think that the Chinkapin oak is the only tree that grows in Georgia, let me show you how to use our Native Plants Database to explore some other options for trees. After clicking on the Database link, scroll down to the Combination Search box and make the following selections: select Georgia under State, ; select Trees under Habit, and select Perennial under Duration. Check Sun under Light requirement, and Dry under Soil Moisture. Click the Submit Combination Search button and you will get a list of 48 plants that meet these criteria.Clicking on the name of each plant will bring up its NPIN page with information and photos.