Coast Live Oak
Quercus agrifolia
An iconic California native oak with gnarled limbs and a broad, dense evergreen crown that can live for centuries, a cornerstone for wildlife whose acorns feed birds and hundreds of other species. Water it while young, then stop; established trees need no summer water, and don't fertilize. It thrives near the coast.
- Mature size
- 50 × 45 ft
- 15 × 13.5 m, tall × wide
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Dry
- Blooms
- Mar–Apr
Coast Live Oak at its mature size
A mature Coast Live Oak grows 40 to 100 feet tall and 40 to 50 feet wide, taller than most people.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: San Marcos Growers, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Through the year
What Coast Live Oak looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
In leaf · Year-round
Small glossy dark green holly-like leaves.
Photos
Growing Coast Live Oak
- Grows well in
- California.
- Good for
- Privacy screen, drought tolerant, and pollinators
- Leaves
- Evergreen
- Native to
- California and Baja California
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Coast Live Oak, that’s about 45 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Coast Live Oak in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other oaks
Coast Live Oak
Southern Live Oak
Swamp White Oak
Willow OakAll drawn to the same scale.