Willow Oak
Quercus phellos
A fast, long-lived native oak with slender, willow-like leaves that give a fine texture and colour well in fall, a popular shade or street tree whose small acorns draw birds and squirrels. It transplants easily and takes clay, wet soil and city air. It grows large, so give it room, and it prefers acid soil.
- Mature size
- 55 × 37 ft
- 17 × 11.5 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–9b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade
- Water
- Dry to wet
- Blooms
- Mar–Apr
Willow Oak at its mature size
A mature Willow Oak grows 40 to 75 feet tall and 25 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: NC State Extension, The Tree Center.
Through the year
What Willow Oak looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Dormant · Dec–Apr
Bare fine branches, gray to dark gray-brown bark with shallow ridges.
In leaf · May–Sep
Shiny light green narrow willow-like leaves.
Fall · Oct–Nov
Muted yellowish orange-brown to red-brown leaves, not showy.
Photos
Growing Willow Oak
- Grows well in
- The Northeast and the Southeast.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Drought tolerant, rain garden, deer resistant, pollinators, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Drops its leaves in winter
- Native to
- Eastern United States
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Willow Oak, that’s about 37 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 Willow Oak in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.
Other oaks
Willow Oak
Swamp White Oak
Pin Oak
Red OakAll drawn to the same scale.