White Oak
Quercus alba
A massive, long-lived native oak with ashy bark, round-lobed leaves that turn wine-red in fall, and acorns that feed a huge range of wildlife, a stately shade tree for big spaces. It grows slowly, its taproot makes it hard to move, and it needs well-drained soil, away from buildings and paving.
- Mature size
- 65 × 65 ft
- 20 × 20 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Dry to moist
- Fall color
- Oct–Nov
White Oak at its mature size
A mature White Oak grows 50 to 80 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: Missouri Botanical Garden.
Through the year
What White Oak looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Apr
Bare massive wide-spreading limbs, pale ashy scaly bark, some dry brown leaves hanging on.
In leaf · May–Sep
Dense dark blue-green round-lobed leaves.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Deep wine-red to russet purple-brown, rich but not glowing.
Photos
Growing White Oak
- Grows well in
- The Northeast, the Southeast, and the Midwest.
- Growth rate
- Medium
- Good for
- Specimen, drought tolerant, and fall color
- 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 White Oak, that’s about 65 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 White Oak in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other oaks
Pin Oak
Red Oak
White Oak
Bur OakAll drawn to the same scale.