Starhill Forest Arboretum

A guest post responding to an earlier blog entry.  I appreciate reader input.  I am a custodian, not an expert.  You guys are the experts.

On Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 3:12 PM, <Strhlfrst@aol.com> wrote:

NAFEX members might be interested in the next Triennial International Oak Society Conference and members' seed exchange, to be held at the Morton Arboretum in October 2015. Could we post something about that on your blog?  

 

   I did notice some inaccuracies in the ratings on this chart:

    

Q. falcata, lyrata, michauxii, phellos, and stellata are easily 5b, if propagated from northern sources (emphasis added by Joe). All of them have been growing here for decades with no winter injury. We grow all the others also, including Q. nigra, nuttallii, and pagoda, but those three might be a little more iffy and might need protected sites. Q. nuttallii actually has been renamed Q. texana, but it's a disputed name so I still use nuttallii. Q. prinus is now Q. montana. Regarding the flood tolerance ratings, consider moving Q. bicolor to the most tolerant category and Q. muehlenbergii to the intermediate category. 

Readers can view the oaks that we are growing in Zone 5 by linking to our digital herbarium additional details (like pictures) can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlinks at the extreme right of the page..

If you would like a guest piece about the 2015 Triennial Oak conference, I suggest you ask Megan Dunning at the host site (Morton Arboretum). You can reach Megan at MDunning@mortonarb.org  Let me know if there is anything else I can do. 

 

 

Guy Sternberg
Starhill Forest Arboretum of Illinois College
12000 Boy Scout Trail, Petersburg, Illinois 62675 USA
217-632-3685
Reply to: Guy@StarhillForest.com (or) Guy.Sternberg@ic.edu http://www.ic.edu/starhillforestarboretum

Performing searches on the internet can be a hit-or-miss thing.  Two sources of "Southern" oaks that make an effort to choose the northernmost provenance are

Ripley County Farms  (Seedlings at very attractive prices)

and

Lovelace Seeds  (Acorns starting on page 4.  Lists seeds per pound and, in many cases, seed provenance)

---Disclosure---
I have not done any business with either of these firms so I cannot vouch for them.  But their prices are attractive and I may place an order with one or both of them.