Swamp White Oak
Quercus bicolor
A long-lived native oak with two-tone leaves, glossy green above and silvery white below, and acorns wildlife love, a fine shade tree for ponds and low spots. It handles spring flooding and dry summers alike. It dislikes compaction, salt and pollution, and is highly susceptible to oak wilt.
- Mature size
- 55 × 55 ft
- 17 × 17 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–8b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Dry to wet
Swamp White Oak at its mature size
A mature Swamp White Oak grows 50 to 60 feet tall and just as 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.
Through the year
What Swamp White Oak looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Apr
Bare: broad crown, flaky gray-brown bark.
In leaf · May–Sep
Dark green leaves flashing silvery undersides.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Dull yellow-brown to russet, muted.
Photos
Growing Swamp White Oak
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Specimen, drought tolerant, rain garden, and deer resistant
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Eastern North America and Central North America
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Swamp White Oak, that’s about 55 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 Swamp White Oak in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other oaks
Swamp White Oak
Willow Oak
Pin Oak
Red OakAll drawn to the same scale.