Quercus garryana |
Native Region: Pacific Northwest Coastal forests
Zone Range: 7-9
Preferred Climate: Full to semi sun; well draining acidic rocky to moist soils
Harvest Date: Saturday 29 September, 2012
Seed count: 8-10
Description:
Our only native oak to the Pacific Northwest. A lovely strong tree deserving more attention with its unique smooth rounded lobed thick dark green leathery leaves and pale gray rough textured/alligator bark. New growth and buds are charmingly fuzzy. Slowish growing; bushy form when young, then stretching out into a magestic tree reaching 30m at maturity. Long lived. Sweet edible acorns are very versitile used for many foods from bread to beverages. Co-evolved with our whacky climate and needs summer drought or established specimens can suffer disease problems. Intolerant of waterlogged soils.
Notes:
NOTE: Seed and germinated seed is donated to the Native Plant Society of BC at the Seedy Saturday event at VanDusen. Order before this time or wait until next year's harvest. Large and small seed available. Want the larger ones: see our 'Nuts and Large seed catagory' and note the 'over sized shipping' writeup.
Cultivation:
Seed cannot dry out or the embryo dies. Keep in cold stratification (moist peat in the fridge) until ready to sow either in pots or germinate in resealable baggies in a warm spot. Transplant into deep pots to grow on. Do not let seedlings freeze if germinated early (November). Give some supplimental water during the summer, but don't let medium become overly moist. My growing mix is an equal part peat, coarse sand, and turkey grit (small pebbles will do) plus a handful of greensand.
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