Shumard Oak
Quercus shumardii
A fairly fast, adaptable native red oak with a pyramidal shape that opens with age and reliable red fall colour, a fine shade or street tree whose acorns feed birds and mammals. It takes drought, city conditions, wind and short floods, and it resists disease. It needs a big lawn, street or park to spread out.
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- Mature size
- 60 × 35 ft
- 18.5 × 10.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Dry to wet
- Blooms
- Mar–Apr
Shumard Oak at its mature size
A mature Shumard Oak grows 50 to 90 feet tall and 30 to 40 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: NC State Extension, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Through the year
What Shumard Oak looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Apr
Bare stout spreading branches, gray bark.
In leaf · May–Oct
Glossy dark green deeply lobed leaves.
Fall · Nov
Scarlet to red-brown leaves.
Photos
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Growing Shumard Oak
- Grows well in
- The Southeast, the Midwest, and the Plains and Mountain West.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Drought tolerant, rain garden, and pollinators
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- South-central and Southeastern United States
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Shumard Oak, that’s about 35 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 Shumard Oak in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other oaks
Shumard Oak
Pin Oak
Red Oak
White OakAll drawn to the same scale.