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The famous massive Oak with moss hangin from the branches, the Live Oak can grow to a truly huge 200 x 130 feet with a trunk diameter of a massive 13 feet and live up to 1400 years. It is very rapid growing ( up to 4 feet in a year ) when young and a tree 70 years old may already have a trunk 5 feet in width. A Live Oak can become a reasonable large tree in just 10 years and 9 x 6 feet has been reached in only 4 years. It can tolorate high winds, high heat and alot of salt, urban conditions and is not bothered by deer. They are very soil tolerant. Evergreen Oaks should be fertilized heavily in March and June.
Its very often evergreen leaves are oblong to 6 x 3 inches at most and are leathery, glossy dark green above and whitish below.
The bark is charcoal gray with shallow fissures making a coarse checkered pattern.
The wood is very heavy up to 55 pounds per square foot.
Usually considered only hardy north to zone 7; some trees are known to tolerate as cold as -14F and be winter hardy in zone 6 and be evergreen to 0F. Live Oaks growing in Dayton, Ohio stayed evergreen during the winter of 2002.
The subspecies 'fusiliformis' ( Escarpment Live Oak ) from Texas and Oklahoma is more drought tolorant, actually very drought and heat tolerant making it an excellent tree for use in parking lots for shade. It is evergreen only to zone 7 but grows well also in zone 5b dropping its leaves late in the fall with no injury. It is also dense and fast growing to a size of 82 x 80 feet with a trunk diameter of 9.5 feet. Its leaves are very shiny and lush green to 6 x 3.5 inches.
Some additional cultivars include:
'Highrise' - very fast growing to 80 x 40 feet in 25 years with trunk width increases up to 1.3 inches in a year. Possibly up to 200 x 60 feet at maturity with an upright pyramidal shape.
'Southern Shade' - rapid growing to 18 feet tall and 5 inches in trunk diameter when only 5 years old. It has a strong leader when young and can reach 65 feet in 35 years and eventually much larger.
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